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By Mohammed Zaatari
TYRE, Lebanon: The
reconstruction of the Fishermen Union’s office building in the area
surrounding Tyre’s old port has met with objections from an association
dedicated to preserving the city’s historical heritage.
The International Association to
Save Tyre is protesting “mutilating the Phoenician port and bridging parts
of it, which contradicts the principle of preserving heritage sites,” and
has led to UNESCO threatening to take Tyre off the list of World Heritage
Sites.
Meanwhile, Tyre’s municipality
is stressing the need to reconstruct the union’s building, which was built
in the late 1980s.
According to the construction
manager at Madnat Contracting Company, Adham Mahmoudy, the new building is
being constructed on the ruins of the old building according to standards
that take into consideration the character of the place and the maritime
facade.
“We are not going anywhere near
the historical [heritage] site and we are not building on any heritage
spot. We are only constructing a new building instead of the old one. We
are not destroying ruins or digging any up,” Mahmoudy added.
According to the head of the
municipal union of Tyre, Abdel-Mohsen Husseini, “they [the association] are
against development. We are the protectors of the city and its heritage.
Where were they living when we protected Tyre from all the mutilation it
underwent during the Israeli occupation? I regret that those who issued the
statement are against Tyre. They increased destruction in Tyre.”
In light of the dispute, a
meeting was held last week at Tyre’s municipality, which included Tyre
Mayor Hasan Dbouq, and a number of figures involved in the project. In the
meeting, it was decided that construction should continue, while making an
amendment to reduce the size of construction and focus more on aesthetics.
“The building will represent a
professional and social front and show the city’s character and heritage by
preserving the profession of fishing and fishermen’s tools which will be
displayed to tourists and visitors in the lower part of the building,”
Dbouq said.
According to Dbouq, there is no
alternative location for the facility, with the municipality unable to
acquire any building in the area.
“The building will take into
consideration the aesthetic and heritage side and will be in harmony with
the surrounding,” Dbouq said.
Following an invitation from head
of the heritage association, Maha al-Khalil Chalabi, Rodi Kratsa, one of
the European Parliament vice presidents, and Marie-Therese Sanchez-Schmid,
member of the European Parliament from the French city of Perpignan,
twinned with Tyre, met over the weekend with Culture Minister Gaby Layyoun
and Metn MP Ghassan Moukheiber.
Following the meeting, according
to a statement from the International Association to Save Tyre, Kratsa, a
member of the Heritage Commission in the Mediterranean, has “committed to
urgently address the issue of the disastrous works underway in the Port of
Tyre, by initiating a process of interpellation in the European
Parliament.”
Sanchez-Schmid also voiced her
willingness to “cease any cooperation with the city of Tyre, if the project
within the port is not canceled immediately.”
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