The highway connecting Jounieh to Beirut, near Jal al-Dib. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros)
The Public Works Ministry stated on Tuesday that it submitted to the cabinet a draft decree to approve the transfer of an appropriation worth $7.7 million from the Ministry’s budget to the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), with the aim of completing works on the al-Azhar Tunnel in the Bekaa, one of the key components of the Arab Highway project.
The tunnel is located on the Damascus highway that links Hazmieh to Masnaa, more precisely somewhere between Dahr al-Baydar and Chtoura in the Bekaa.
In the statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency, the Ministry said this step comes after the CDR reported that the "preparatory, technical, and administrative works related to the project had reached an advanced stage, and that securing the required funding would allow the resumption of works after years of suspension due to Lebanon’s financial and economic crisis."
The statement notes that the al-Azhar Tunnel is considered a "central element of the Arab Highway project due to its role in completing the highway route, enhancing road safety, improving transport efficiency, and facilitating the movement of citizens and goods between the capital Beirut and the Bekaa region, extending to the Lebanese-Syrian border."
The Ministry stressed that the project falls within its priorities aimed at relaunching stalled strategic projects and completing vital infrastructure, contributing to development, and improved public services.
