BEIRUT: The lack of comprehensive records is hindering the work of the Public Works and Transport Ministry, a road maintenance expert said Friday at the end of a UNDP program to boost the capabilities of ministry engineers.
Rami Chehade, a road maintenance supervisor at Transurban, a company with a corporate office in Washington D.C., told The Daily Star in an interview that the ministry doesn’t keep records of the facilities that fall under its control.
“To keep your home, don’t you need to know what’s in it?” he said.
“For example, you need to know what kind of air-conditioning and gates [are being used] in order to know what kind of maintenance they require. I asked them [employees]: Does anyone have a database to keep track of how many kilometers the roads are, or how many electricity poles and sewage systems you have? No one knows.”
In an attempt to find a solution, Chehade made a recommendation to the ministry that wouldn’t cost it very much money: hiring interns. He suggested that students willing to work at the ministry could be sent across Lebanon to survey its infrastructure.
Having a comprehensive database could help the ministry legitimize its public standing, Chehade explained. For instance, when it’s clear what aspects of infrastructure fall under its jurisdiction, the ministry would be able to demand a precise budget for maintenance-related work. “Now if they aren’t granted the budget that’s another issue ... but it shows that the ministry ... did all it could.”
Chehade is a Lebanese expatriate living in the United States. He came back to his home country on a short visit as part of a four-day training about emergency road maintenance. During the event, Chehade worked with 24 engineers from the Public Works and Transport Ministry to strengthen their capabilities.
The training was part of the U.N. Development Program’s “Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals” project, which was implemented jointly with the Council for Development and Reconstruction.
The training ended Friday and certificates were distributed to the engineers in the presence of UNDP’s Country Director Luca Renda.
The status of Lebanon’s roads has been a controversial issue this year after successive storms overwhelmed the country’s infrastructure with heavy rains and snow.
During the training, weather was a crucial point of discussion.
Earlier this month Lebanon was hit by storm “Yohan,” which brought heavy precipitation, leading to the flooding of numerous roads such as the Nahr al-Kalb Highway linking Jounieh to Beirut.
In November, a tunnel near the Rafik Hariri International Airport was also flooded after showers.
Chehade informed the ministry that a clear database would have helped highlight the trouble spots causing drainage issues.
“We all know that it’s a crumbling infrastructure, with old and small pipelines paired with an increase in construction activity,” Chehade said.
Additionally, he said, the sewers need to be checked constantly with cameras that can detect whether they are blocked. The drainage system also needs to be cleaned during the summer and surveyed.
The coastal Dbayyeh road, which collapsed when Yohan hammered Lebanon with strong winds, was also tackled during the training. Chehade didn’t visit the road, but after seeing pictures, he made several recommendations.
Chehade said that in the case of “Yohan” the ministry should have followed up with contractors and checked to see whether they had implemented projects according to the agreed-upon map.
This should be double-checked with designers and other involved parties, so that construction-related issues can be ruled out when doing maintenance work.
The most recent storm “Windy” brought with it snowfall at low altitudes, blocking vital roads across the country. In such cases, Chehade recommended that the ministry remain in direct contact with the meteorological department. By keeping updated about unexpected changes in temperature and precipitation, the ministry would be better able to take necessary measures.
Chehade discussed with the engineers various issues to improve maintenance work such as implementing inspection guidelines, and gave safety improvement advice.
He also introduced the trainees to materials currently being used in the United States.
“We talked about what is being used now in terms of asphalt, the different mix designs and why to use them, different concrete mixes and different underground utility materials such as what kind of pipelines to use for the sewage system,” Chehade explained.
“We talked about the framework of the ministry’s asset management system,” Chehade said, adding that the system is set up similar to that in the U.S.
“They do have the technical knowledge,” Chehade said referring to the ministry’s engineers.
The problem, he added, was that they were being limited by the overall structure of work.
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