![A master plan of the new Port of Jounieh shows an overview of how it will look after work is completed. [Photo courtesy of Roger Azar]](/cnmi_am/images/2017/09/27/9755-Lebanon-Jounieh-port-700_496.webp)
Construction work has begun on a new port in the coastal city of Jounieh that is expected to revitalise Lebanon's economy and its tourism sector, officials said.
After an eight-year delay, work has begun on the port, which when completed will be able to accommodate cruise ships carrying more than 6,000 tourists.
President Michel Aoun announced the start of construction during a meeting with Lebanese tourism sector leaders on September 12th, having laid the foundation stone for the project on December 20th.
According to the municipality of Jounieh, construction on the port was commissioned by a decree dated May 5th, 2008.
The location was selected, taking ocean currents into consideration, after the completion of a study commissioned by the Council for Development and Reconstruction, a Lebanese governmental organisation.
"The port was designed to attract large tourist vessels, because the site’s depth allows it," said Roger Azar of the Free Patriotic Movement's Works Committee.
It will cost $120 million, with work to be completed in four years, he said.
First phase of project under way
The first phase of the project focuses on setting the port’s boundaries, which extend from the Automobile et Touring Club du Liban (ATCL) complex along the road from Jounieh to Dbayeh, with a wide road branching out from it to the port.
The Ministry of Public Works is currently dredging the site to deepen it, and a 50,000 square-metre lot facing the water will be backfilled, Azar said.
Later, a two-kilometre pier will be built, with a temporary berth for a second ship, while tourists disembark from the ship docked in the port, he added.
The port will include berths for 500 yachts and small and medium-sized boats, he said. When completed, it will be able to accommodate vessels of up to 360 metres in length, carrying tourists who will spend a few days in Lebanon.
Taxis, shops, restaurants and cafes are all set to benefit from the new port.
The port will spur "a tremendous economic boom", Azar said, "and will produce economic benefit that will stimulate the tourism market throughout the coastal region and subsequently the mountain regions".
Lebanon "is looking at a golden opportunity for an economic and tourism boost", he said, adding that the port "will become a major stop on the tourism map in the Middle East and the world and a destination for the largest cruise ships".
Lebanese citizens, who must now fly to Turkey or even further afield to board a cruise ship, will be able to embark on cruises from the new port, he added.
The port will be overseen by a board of directors, and the construction will include customs, inspection and security headquarters.
Putting Lebanon on the map
The new port will "put Lebanon on the route of cruise tours that attract large numbers of tourists", Tourism Minister Avedis Guidanian told Al-Mashareq.
It will provide a boost to the Keserwan district in particular, in terms of shopping and touring, he said, "will stimulate tourism throughout Lebanon, and will spur the areas around Jounieh and Keserwan to invest in tourism".
The new port will attract many first-time tourists of all nationalities to Lebanon, Guidanian said, which can lead to the opening of new markets.
The port is a necessity for Lebanon, "which is currently receiving and seeing off cruise ships at Beirut’s commercial port, and greeting and saying goodbye to tourists in a manner that is not befitting to Lebanon", he added.
The Ministry of Tourism has factored in the need to pair the building of the port with a plan to promote the port and activate the tourism sector in the region.
"Lebanon is sending a message to the world that this small country in the Middle East is capable of serving as a link between East and West by sea, land and air," he said.
The port "puts Lebanon back on the map of world tourism by virtue of accommodating jumbo cruise ships that roam the Mediterranean Sea", said Jean Beiruti, chairman of the Maritime Tourism Establishment Associations.
The direct economic benefit "will be very high, as it will create more than 1,500 jobs, not to mention that it will spur tourism investments in related restaurants and shops", he told Al-Mashareq.
The port will yield economic benefits for all of Lebanon, not just Jounieh and Keserwan, Beiruti added, as tourists who come aboard those ships will be able to visit all of Lebanon in several days.
Given our situation, we are in an urgent need for this project which would revive sea activities for average citizens, especially fishing lovers. We hope that areas will be set aside for small tourist boats to berth without need for connections, as is the case at most public ports. We demand that a subscription table be made for this harbour and that the necessary public safety requirements be met.
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