Lebanon is building for training success

摘要

Lebanon took the first concrete step in building a controversial $3.5M shipping industry training college in April with the laying of a foundation stone, despite local opposition to construction of the new Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun.rnThe country's public works and transportation minister Ghazi Aridi dismissed the protests of local people, who fear the construction work will ruin the city's historic and environmental heritage by destroying unique rock formations and damaging the city's Phoenician wall. Aridi insisted that "not one rock surrounding the institute" would be touched. A prominent former local politician, Sayed Aql, argued that Batroun's long-abandoned Maritime Science Institute building ought to be renovated instead, as he said it would be better value for money than building a new structure.