BEIRUT — The Families of the Victims of the Beirut Port Explosion Association and the "Silos and the City" campaign submitted a letter to the Director of the Middle East Region at the World Bank, Jean-Christophe Carret, calling on him to urgently intervene to preserve the Beirut Port silos, according to a statement released by victims' relatives.

On Aug. 4, 2020, a deadly explosion at the Beirut port claimed the lives of over 220 people, wounded more than 6,500 individuals and destroyed large swathes of the city. In the months following the disaster, numerous rehabilitation projects were proposed by local and foreign actors to try to rehabilitate, or even rethink, the port area. Authorities are yet to clear the debris cluttering the port, let alone move forward with any of the proposals.

While the investigation into the explosion remains hampered by political pressure, the victims’ relatives as well as numerous civil society organizations have mobilized to demand the preservation of the explosion site as well as the silos building, to guard the memory of one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

In March 2022, CGA CGM received a concession for Beirut's container terminal, prompting a request from authorities for a comprehensive study on the port's future, including development phases, financing options, and governance reform, due to the ambiguous management structure.

The study, initiated in 2022 by the World Bank, involved consultations with stakeholders and proposed phases for Beirut's port rehabilitation, focusing on enhancing the container terminal, and relocating silos to the west of the fourth basin, close to the “General Cargo” functions.

The site of the explosion, including the crater and silos, would be preserved in its entirety as a place of remembrance and contemplation accessible to the public, in the same way as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.

Despite a 2023 submission of the plan by the World Bank, it faced delays amid parliamentary indecision, while France moved to propose an alternative project.

On March 13, proposals were presented by three French companies, mandated by the French government to develop a “pragmatic” plan to rehabilitate Beirut's port. Unlike the World Bank project, the French project, revealed to both officials and the press, was developed in the secrecy of the design offices, without any prior consultation with the public, civil society or professional organizations. But it also called for the explosion site to be made safe and for the silos to be relocated.

The French plan also "excludes the site of the silos," leaving it to the Lebanese authorities to take action, according to the statement by the Families of the Victims of the Beirut Port Explosion Association.

"We consider this behavior disgraceful, especially after all our attempts to communicate and discuss with the World Bank office were ignored," the statement added. "The letter submitted to Carret discussed practical and material solutions, including accepting a Kuwaiti donation allocated to strengthening the silos, which would not incur any financial burden on the city, but would generate revenue for the port in the long term."

Blast victims’ families fear that leaving it up to the Lebanese authorities to decide on what to do with what remains of the port silos will eventually lead to their demolition or suspicious moves by authorities seeking to avoid responsibility.

Sixteen of the Beirut port silos on the northern block collapsed in three separate occasions after the blast, one of them being on the blast’s second anniversary. Some victims’ families believed that authorities had something to do with it but architects say the northern silos’ structure was too weak to stay up. Twelve silos on the southern part are still standing. These are the ones victims’ families demand be preserved.

The Minister of Public Works Ali Hamieh and the Economy Minister Amin Salam were not immediately available for comment.