Lebanon airport expansion sparks transparency concerns

Lebanon airport expansion sparks transparency concerns

BEIRUT: Civil society organizations and lawmakers in crisis-hit Lebanon have raised concerns over the awarding of a multi-million dollar contract to build and operate a second terminal at Beirut’s international airport.

Cash-strapped Lebanon announced last week that private company Lebanese Air Transport and Irish firm daa International would partner for the revamp.

Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said the private sector would fund the $122 million project, which would “create around 2,500 jobs.”

The firms would operate the terminal for a 25-year period, he added.

But civil society groups and some lawmakers have decried opacity in the tender process and a lack of involvement of the Public Procurement Authority.

“Marginalizing or disregarding” the role of the authority undermines the effectiveness of Lebanon’s 2021 public procurement law, 10 civil society groups said in a statement Tuesday.

Last week the groups, including Transparency International Lebanon, warned in a statement of “serious abuses” in the procurement law’s application which “open the door to corruption and nepotism.”

Jean Ellieh, head of the authority, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that “the contract did not pass through” the regulatory body as it should have according to the 2021 law.

Some have also questioned how