Clarification from the Ministry of Public Works regarding Reconstruction Appropriations and Tendering Mechanisms

The media office of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport responded in a statement to what was published in a newspaper regarding the Cabinet's decision concerning the plan to address the damage to the road and bridge network due to the recent aggression, and affirmed that "the information and conclusions it contained were inaccurate, at a time when the Ministry of Public Works and Transport hastened to reopen damaged roads, remove obstacles, and ensure continuous connectivity between regions and public safety, out of a national, salvific motive in exceptional circumstances."

The statement added: "The Ministry of Public Works and Transport finds it strange to deal with emergency measures aimed at removing rubble, opening roads, protecting public safety, and ensuring the passage of citizens, within the available legal frameworks, as if they were subject to suspicion, while any delay in intervention would have been considered a dereliction of public duty, and it wishes to clarify the following:

Firstly: The Cabinet's decision, which is the subject of the published news, is not an open authorization as depicted, but rather the approval of an emergency plan, with specific implementation mechanisms, for public safety necessities and to reconnect affected areas, after vital roads and axes were cut off and essential facilities were disrupted.

Secondly: Depicting the plan as an avenue to bypass the Public Procurement Law or to generalize direct awarding is incorrect, as the plan did not create an exception outside the law, but rather addressed specific exceptional situations imposed by the war, with a clear distinction between urgent relief works, temporary works, and reconstruction projects, each of which is subject to the legal mechanisms appropriate to its nature.

Thirdly: The suggestion that the plan constitutes a cover for "fragmentation" or "discretion" is also incorrect and ignores the technical nature of the works distributed geographically and objectively according to the damage sites and the type of intervention required, which is a technical approach unrelated to the concept of fragmentation.

Fourthly: The concept of treasury advances and emergency advances, whose appropriations are available in the Ministry's own budget, has been confused, knowing that the total appropriations allocated through emergency advances do not exceed /300/ thousand د.أ. for rubble removal works to facilitate traffic in all affected areas.

Fifthly: All tenders for the reconstruction of bridges or roads will be done through public bidding via the Public Procurement Authority, and what will be contracted by mutual agreement are consulting offices for preparing structural studies with the necessary speed, as well as any works of immediate relief nature and within certain financial limits as stated.

Sixthly: The Ministry presented its plan to the Cabinet with full transparency and received its approval, and it affirms that the implementation of all works will be carried out under the umbrella of legal, supervisory, and oversight principles, in a manner that safeguards public funds and preserves public interest."

The statement concluded: "The Ministry reaffirms the necessity of accuracy and objectivity in approaching this national issue, and addressing the facts related to it based on reliable data, warning against the publication of inaccurate information that could mislead public opinion, and emphasizing that its primary concern remains to facilitate matters for citizens amidst the difficult circumstances currently facing Lebanon."