Audit Bureau asks Hamieh for info on controversial airport project

  • Date: 24-Mar-2023
  • Source: Naharnet
  • Sector:Transport
  • Country:Lebanon
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Audit Bureau asks Hamieh for info on controversial airport project

Lebanon’s Audit Bureau on Friday sent a memo to caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, asking him for information about a project to construct a new terminal at the Rafik Hariri International Airport, following an uproar in the country over the issue.

In the memo, the Bureau asks Hamieh whether the public procurement law, the public-private partnership law and other laws have been respected. It also asks whether a public tender had been organized and whether structural, environmental and economic studies had been conducted.

The head of the Public Procurement Authority, Jean Elliyeh, meanwhile announced that “the airport tender file will be in the hands of the relevant inspection authorities at the beginning of next week.”

Elliyeh had recently announced that the Authority was not aware of how the project was contracted without a public tender.

According to media reports, the project has been contracted to an Irish company and a Saudi firm.

The project will cost $122 million and will be completed in four years, officials said Monday.

Lebanon’s only international airport had a major facelift after the country’s 1975-90 civil war and has been working at full capacity for years. The airport has not undergone an expansion since 1998.

Hamieh said Terminal 2