The cable car departure point at Jounieh (Kesrouan). (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L'Orient-Le Jour)
In a statement, Lebanese outgoing Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar called for the cable car linking the coastal town of Jounieh to the village Harissa, located in the Kesrouan mountains overlooking the bay, to be shut down until it is inspected by an "international consulting firm," which he also called on to name. This infrastructure broke down on Thursday, trapping nearly thirty of its passengers for several hours until rescue workers could evacuate them.
The company that Walid Nassar wishes to appoint will have to carry out a "physical examination and investigation" with a view to defining the "responsibilities" of the company that manages the cableway — the Lebanese Enterprise for Tourism and Cable Car Development — and of the Directorate General of Investments within the Ministry of Energy, to which it reports.
"Measures will have to be taken if there has been negligence, to prevent similar incidents from happening again," the outgoing minister said. He added: "The cableway cannot be restarted until the technical report" drawn up by the consultancy firm has been published. He did not specify how long the process would last, nor did he give any further details on the profile of the company that the state would have to consult.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Energy also issued a statement rejecting the "media one-upmanship" that followed the incident, which had been commented on harshly on Thursday by outgoing Tourism Minister Walid Nassar, and Interior and Municipalities Minister Bassam Mawlawi.
The ministry added that maintenance of the cable car was carried out "regularly by the company operating it through international and local companies," and that teams from the Directorate of Investment had themselves inspected the site "two months ago." The ministry said it would take "all necessary measures" in the event of negligence.
Addressing those who have been calling since Thursday for responsibility for the cable car to be taken away, the Ministry replied that this would require a law to be passed in parliament. Last year, Bureau Veritas France carried out an inspection of the Jounieh cableway installations.