TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Development in Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli has stalled, and the city has failed to find stability amid political recriminations, rising poverty and contentious infrastructure projects.
The northern capital suffers from a chronic lack of development and is in dire need of political and economic solutions.
Its high levels of poverty and social marginalization were recently highlighted in a damning report released by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
The Urban Deprivation Index, put together by ESCWA, revealed that 57 percent of Tripoli’s families are struggling to attain an acceptable standard of living; of these, 26 percent are considered “extremely deprived.”
Its findings stem from a survey conducted in October 2011 of 1,271 families from seven major Tripoli neighborhoods: Basateen Tarablous, al-Tal-Zahreyah, the Old City, Bab al-Tabbaneh, Swayka, Qibbeh and Jabal Mohsen.
Politicians have traded blame for the conditions revealed by the January report, but have yet to propose viable solutions for the dangerous social indicators it revealed.
The report’s publication came as Tripoli’s politicians and residents were engaged in debate on a controversial underground parking lot planned for the city’s Al-Tal Square.
The municipality decided earlier this month to proceed with the project, despite opposition from residents and civil society groups like The Follow Up Committee for Tripoli.
The municipal council approved the project, after the plan had been initially rejected earlier in February.
Some March 14 civil society members who had expressed early opposition to the project have been silent in recent weeks, fueling speculation that they have conceded to Tripoli ministers, the municipality and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, all of whom support it.
While some residents support the plan, others have said that the money should be used for more pressing development projects.
Political bickering in such matters is typical, but the city’s lack of development is also symptomatic of its chronic instability.
Khaldoun Sharif, a politician close to former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, denied accusations made against Tripoli’s political class, countering that it was the Parliament that had shown indifference to the degrading conditions in the city.
“The issue isn’t related to the role [of city] authorities as much as it is an issue of sharing political spoils in the government and the Parliament,” Sharif explained. “When [projects in] Tripoli are raised, there are factions that use this as a chance to demand projects in their own areas, [to gain electoral support].”
Sharif said this happened when Mikati approved a massive plan for new construction in the city. “This triggered other ministers to ask for similar plans for their areas.”
Sharif, who has contested a parliamentary seat multiple times, argued that rather than reports on its failings, Tripoli needs concrete suggestions for progress.
“Eighty percent of the Lebanese economy is centered in Beirut,” Sharif explained. “There’s no one thinking about Tripoli’s future, [but] the city is at a crossroads, and the situation is deteriorating.”
The former head of Tripoli’s Merchants Association, Maamoun Adra, blamed the worsening conditions on Tripoli’s residents.
“The local mentality,” he called it.
Adra contended that this mentality was characterized by selfishness and individualism, with little attention to the needs of others. The accusation is at least somewhat echoed in the ESCWA report, which revealed significant levels of political corruption in the city.
“Tripoli has around 10,000 shops that vary in their specialty, but they’re all suffering from economic difficulties,” he said. “Most of them are issuing bounced checks due to a lack of liquidity, [and] there’s no deputy or minister who asks about their problems and concerns; ... [citizens] keep silent on the injustices being inflicted on them, they’re being submissive.”
Adra elaborated on the city’s troubled history, citing a series of events, large and small, which have hampered its development.
“The crisis in Tripoli wasn’t born today; the economic situation has been deteriorating since 1994, when economists in Beirut decided to end the exclusivity of international fairs in the city,” he said. Tripoli’s Rashid Karami International Fair remains an important event for local and national industry.
“The intention was to end Tripoli’s leading role, [which is seen as operating at] the expense of Beirut’s centralization.”
Adra also cited a series of military conflagrations from 1958 through the Civil War, which forced businesses and residents out and shoppers and tourists to stay away, sending the city into a spiral of economic decline. He added that the pattern continues today with the recurrent clashes between the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods.
Tripoli has also fallen behind other Lebanese cities in terms of education, explained Hiba Nashabe, president of the city’s Azm Educational Campus, and former manager of the Al-Maqased Charity Foundation Schools in Beirut.
“Tripoli lacks schools that rely on international quality standards ... We don’t encourage [students] to think and build an independent personality. We’re teaching this generation, but that doesn’t mean we’re raising and educating them [properly]. Teaching is one thing and education is another.”
“In Sidon there are schools that follow these standards, and graduate students based on the international baccalaureate program – this is nonexistent in Tripoli. Even public schools in Beirut, Sidon, and Zahle look completely different than those in Tripoli with regard to standards and administration,” Nashabe added.
“We can’t say that we are working to graduate leaders without putting modern teaching techniques in place for our students.”
Nashabe believes that Tripoli’s problems aren’t related to its poverty so as much to the lack of a clear vision for the future. She seconded Adra’s contention that its residents are not particularly community-minded.
“Tripoli lacks group work,” Nashabe said. “Achievements often take on an individualistic rather than an institutional form.”
Resigned Tripoli municipal council member Fawaz Hamidi said he was angry at how things are going in the city.
“The problem in Tripoli ... is its failing administrative and political system, with their unjustified levels of centralization,” said Hamidi, who conceded that the city’s issues are deep-rooted and complex.
“In my opinion, if the running of Tripoli’s political, religious and municipal affairs continues unchanged, it would be better for us to cancel the parking lot and all the other projects, announce that the city is ruined, and find another place to seek refuge.”
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