BEIRUT: The Beirut municipality’s plan to build a football stadium in the capital’s largest park has sparked controversy, with many activists and MP Walid Jumblatt saying the project would damage one of few remaining green spaces. But Beirut Mayor Bilal Hamad said that the new stadium would only replace an already existing one in the same area of Horsh Beirut, adding that the project would not cut even a single tree.
Last month, the government agreed to task the Council of Development and Reconstruction to prepare a study to construct a civic center to replace the current football stadium in Beirut’s neighborhood of Al-Tariq al-Jadideh.
An underground parking lot accommodating 2,000 cars would be built under the center.
The CDR was also tasked with studying plans to build an alternative stadium in Horsh Beirut.
According to Raja Noujaim, the representative of the Association for the Protection of the Lebanese Heritage, there was no justification behind the decision to cut the greenery in Horsh Beirut by constructing the stadium. “We want green spaces in this country to breathe,” he told The Daily Star.
“We want something environmentally friendly in Horsh Beirut rather than a cement structure and all the associated noise,” Noujaim added.
He complained that the municipality had not consulted urban planners or designers about any of its projects.
“There is already an environmentally friendly stadium by the edge of Horsh Beirut. Why do they want to decrease green spaces in this country [to build a new one], as if Beirut is full of green spaces,” Noujaim said.
“Let them refurbish the stadium near the Horsh in an environmentally friendly way and form a civic center near Horsh,” he said.
Although his ministers approved the Cabinet’s decision, Progressive Socialist Party leader Jumblatt voiced his opposition to the project in his weekly editorial last week.
He urged the municipality to preserve Horsh Beirut, saying it was one of the few remaining green spaces in the capital.
Commenting on the uproar, Mayor Hamad stressed that the new stadium would replace one at the edge of Horsh Beirut, which Noujaim had mentioned, adding that it would also overtake two abandoned adjacent pieces of land.
“There is a big training stadium, the size of it is almost Olympic. It is there now and it is used by many Beirut teams for training ... so it is already there,” he said.
Hamad said the stadium would be built in a barren area of Horsh Beirut, and would not affect its concentration of green space. “What I am doing is using that space for a stadium. I am not cutting a single tree.”
He said that the Olympic stadium would accommodate around 7,000 spectators and there would be no construction done above street level.
“Even the stands will be below ground floor level. It is a green environment, green structure. It is environmentally friendly for sure,” Hamad said.
Hamad added that a parking lot would be constructed under the new stadium that would also serve the nearby hippodrome area.
“Our project is to transform the hippodrome [into a sort of] Beirut Central Park [where horse] races will still be held,” Hamad said.
He explained that the municipal council had approved a master plan for Horsh Beirut, adding that a bidding process would be launched in the spring to select a company to execute it. Under the plan, benches, tracks, an amphitheater, bathrooms, signage and other facilities would be installed.
“This company which we will commission will be in charge of management, maintenance and security of the Horsh,” he said. “God willing we will have a company before the end of summer in Horsh. Once we finish what we want, we will open it for the public.”
Around 300,000 square meters big, Horsh Beirut, which was renovated following the end of Civil War, is not yet open for the public.
“Now it’s open ... for people above 30 ... and we allowed children to enter with their parents,” Hamad said.
Hamad said that the current public stadium in Al-Tariq al-Jadideh would be replaced with a civic center, containing another underground parking lot accommodating 2,000 cars.
“In Al-Tariq al-Jadideh, there is a football stadium in the middle of a very heavily populated area ... It is used six to eight times per year ... we are transforming Al-Tariq al-Jadideh [stadium] into a civic center,” Hamad said.
Noujaim, however, questioned why a carpark would be built in a crowded area such as Al-Tariq al-Jadideh, wondering how vehicles would reach the parking lot.
“It is a heavily crowded neighborhood and they haven’t done any traffic studies,” Noujaim explained. “There will be 600 cars entering and 600 cars leaving the parking lot three times a day at peak hours.”
Noujaim said that parking lots planned for the city center should be constructed instead near the entrances of crowded neighborhoods.
But Hamad said that entrances to the planned parking lot would be easy. “We can have ramps to enter and leave to serve four corners [of the neighborhood]. This way we serve most of Al-Tariq al-Jadideh ... we will solve the problem of multi-street parking,” Hamad said.
“Fifty percent of the traffic jam in Beirut is because of double parking and illegal parking.”
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