reply by
Gemayel
6/28/2002 (24:52) |
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Hariri Says Hizbollah Obstructed Wastewater Project Development Plans
Future News -The construction of a wastewater project in the Ouzai district south of Beirut will soon begin, following days of tension in the area, where Hizbollah supporters attacked a government official and blocked the construction of a bridge. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's press office issued a statement saying recent comments by Hizbollah suggested the group did not oppose the construction of the waste-water plan. The building of a bridge has for now been put on hold. A follow-up committee representing residents of Ouzai, and close to Hizbollah, rejected any construction of the overpass and opposed a master development plan for the region called Elissar.
Report: Prime Minister Rafik Hariri updated a Cabinet session he headed late on Thursday on the comprehensive and master development plan for Beirut's southern suburbs, including the Ouzai district, called Elissar. Hariri made it clear that the projects had received the backing of state institutions and all parties and politicians had been aware of the development plan. Hariri rejected attempts to portray government insistence to construct the key bridge linking Beirut's Ouzai entrance with southern districts as an attack on Hizbollah and the resistance. He unveiled his personal efforts during a recent trip to London, when he was informed that European Union officials meeting in Luxembourg planned to include Hizbollah on a terror list. Hariri said immediate contacts he had undertaken prevented that from happening. Supporters of Hizbollah on Wednesday assaulted a government official breaking ground on a construction project in the group's southern Beirut stronghold of Ouzai.
A crowd of Hizbollah supporters shoved and punched Fadi Fawaz, an adviser to Hariri, before a ground-breaking ceremony on the suspension bridge in the area. Fawaz said Hizbollah has been blocking the execution of projects in Beirut's southern suburb to meet political ends. Supporters of the group shouted anti-Hariri slogans.
The project has been a point of bitter contention between Hizbollah and the government. The group made good on pledges to prevent the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) from launching the construction of the key overpass in Ouzai, which aims to facilitate travel between the capital, Beirut, and southern districts.
CDR officials and a convoy belonging to MP Walid Eido were also attacked. The project should have begun ten weeks ago. It includes the construction of new sewers on the southern coastal strip. The bridge is expected to cost some 28 million dollars, but CDR sources said quote forces on the ground, in reference to Hizbollah's strong presence in the region, was pressing the authorities to instead expand the existing road at a cost of 72 million dollars, including 42 million in compensation to people who have been living on state-owned property.
Sources said the same forces had prevented the completion of a runway at Beirut's International Airport and numerous other construction projects in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Arab and Kuwaiti development funds are providing money to finance the Ouzai bridge's construction. Parliament had approved the projects. Sources said Hizbollah's Secretary General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah had threatened to take part himself in the demonstration at Ouzai.
MPs from Hizbollah's bloc in Parliament were on the scene. Chief Mount Lebanon Public Prosecutor Jean Fahd ordered security forces to identify and arrest assailants who attacked CDR officials and MP Eido. Hizbollah issued a statement later in the day saying the demonstrations in Ouzai were not sponsored by the group, but were organized by a support committee for the area's residents who oppose the project.
The statement said legislators from the parties Hizbollah and Amal, which is headed by House Speaker Nabih Berri, were invited to the protests, and were trying to calm demonstrators. They denied that Hizbollah's Secretary General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah planned to participate in the protests.
Premier Hariri's press office responded to the statement, saying objection to the bridge's construction did not justify the violence. It said the group had been seeking to gain higher compensation by stalling the project, and questioned the reasons behind Hizbollah's opposition and its blocking of completing the construction of Beirut's international airport.
Hariri's office said the presence of Hizbollah MPs at Ouzai amounted to a veiled threat and incitement to violence. It stressed that Hizbollah MPs had been speaking out against the project and inciting Ouzai residents through media outlets. It reiterated that CDR projects had been approved by Parliament.
House Speaker Berri who met MP Eido and Premier Hariri late on Wednesday, declared the incident was over, and condemned the attack on Deputy Eido. The Premier on Thursday gave Cabinet details of Hizbollah efforts to obstruct development projects in Beirut's southern suburbs to obtain large amounts of money in compensation for evicting people living on state-owned property.
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi also rejected attempts to accuse the government of neglecting the Ouzai region and its residents. Aridi said Cabinet and Parliament had allocated this year 150 billion Lebanese Pounds to fund development and construction projects in the area. He made it clear that the people of Ouzai and political forces in the region were not targeted. Hizbollah MPs in Parliament hinted government action aimed at in their words sending regional and international messages that Hizbollah could be pressured and attacked. Officials decided to put on hold for now the suspension bridge's construction, but at a meeting chaired by Hariri, they decided to immediately begin work on the waste-water project, which would channel drains from Beirut's Raouch district to Ouzai.
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