A worker holds wheat grains in a flour mill in Beirut on March 1, 2022. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT —Lebanon has “serious plans” to build two new grain silos to fight its worsening food security crisis, a spokesperson for the caretaker economy minister confirmed to L’Orient Today on Wednesday. Earlier Wednesday, the Associated Press published an interview with the minister, Amin Salam, in which he said Lebanon has plans to build the two new silos.
Here’s what we know:
• Salam had told AP that several countries and international organizations have expressed an interest in funding and bidding on the contract for the new silos, which “will cost a total of $100 million.”
• “We have had very serious interest from Germany, the United States, France, and even more serious interest from the United Arab Emirates,” Salam told AP, and stated that he has planned a trip to Qatar to discuss the matter.
• Lebanon’s only grain silos, located in the Beirut port, stand in ruins following the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion. One of the silos had caught fire repeatedly for the past few weeks. The families of the port blast victims accused the government of “destroying evidence,” while government officials assured that the fire was not “premeditated.”