Minister of Public Works and Transport in the caretaker government, Dr. Ali Hamiyeh, held a meeting today with the Director General of Civil Aviation, Engineer Fadi Al-Hassan, the Chairman of Middle East Airlines, Mohamad Al-Hout, the General Manager of "Al-Miz" Company, Mohamed Shatila, the Chairman of the Oil Companies Group, Maroun Shamas, and the airport security chief, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, along with security agencies at Rafik Hariri International Airport. Following the meeting, he held a press conference discussing the status of the fuel facilities for aircraft, the pumping pipelines from the facilities to the airside, which spans five kilometers, and an evaluation of services at the airport after the summer season, steps that should be taken moving forward, as well as the announcement of new tenders and their opening dates, and encroachments and thefts occurring outside the airport perimeter from the tunnels to the radar station in Baisour.
Hamiyeh stated, "Today's meeting was held to assess the airport's operations during the summer season, identify errors and loopholes to address them and prevent their occurrence in the future, particularly as we are currently facing a very challenging economic and financial situation," noting that "loopholes occur in all airports worldwide."
He pointed out, "Everyone knows what happened over seven years ago regarding the leakage from the pipes supplying fuel to aircraft, which are located underground at the airport along a stretch of five kilometers, as this is a public safety issue."
He continued, "Since the formation of the current government, we made the decision to sign with the company to start maintenance works on these pipes, which commenced in February 2022 and continued until the end of September this year, allowing Gate 23 to refuel aircraft without any issues with the pipelines."
Hamiyeh referred to the maintenance and operation of airport facilities conducted by Al-Miz Company through a contract signed with the Council for Development and Reconstruction, emphasizing that "the elevators, escalators, and restrooms are essential topics and priorities for the continuous operation of the airport."
He addressed the issue of airport tunnels, their lighting, water suction systems, and copper cables inside the "transits," which had been stolen several times, noting that "we have sent correspondence to the relevant authorities about this matter." He highlighted that "we will resort to a radical solution regarding the water suction systems in the tunnels of Ouzai and Koukoudi by relocating all rooms feeding the network and suction systems to the airport ground above the tunnels, which undoubtedly will be financially costly." He revealed that "there is a radar station in Baisour that has been subjected to theft, and we will correspond with the Ministry of National Defense as the matter relates to Lebanese national security."
Hamiyeh stressed "the importance of complete cooperation and coordination among security agencies, employees of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, ground handling companies, Middle East Airlines, Al-Miz, and the oil company to ensure the continuity of airport operations."
He continued, "Regarding baggage tractors, we will prepare a new system for them by launching a global tender for this purpose."
He announced that "the opening of bids for the duty-free tender will take place on the 27th of this month," pointing out that "bids for restaurants will also be launched, in addition to tenders for two fuel stations at the airport." He revealed that although Lebanese law grants the minister the right to sign contracts by mutual agreement if the bidding does not proceed during the second round, he refrained from doing so. He added, "Since the new public procurement law came into force on July 27, we are now preparing new tender documents according to this law to launch a bid for investment within the airport, and the conditions book for FAST TRAK has been completed, with timing for the tender announcement also based on the procurement law."
He called on "anyone with the required specifications to apply for these tenders." He confirmed that "the navigation systems within the airport have been inspected to ensure they operate in accordance with international standards."
Hamiyeh thanked all the employees of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the security agencies working at the airport for their "remarkable efforts to maintain the airport's image," emphasizing that "the continuity of operations is our goal today."
