A friend was telling me that she spotted new ads for the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water yesterday, one showing a metro/train in the background and another ad showing Lebanese Army men with slogans saying:
بلدنا صار عندو نفط لتطوير شبكة المواصلات
Or in English “Now that we have oil, we can enhance the transportation network”
بلدنا صار عندو نفط لتسليح ودعم الجيش
or In English “Now that we have oil, we can arm and support the army”
To begin with, it is still very early to talk about gaining any profits from the exploration of oil and gas as we are still in the per-qualifying round and the first exploration and production agreements are scheduled to be signed in February 2014.
Second and more importantly, it is not the lack of money that is preventing our government from funding the Lebanese Army and I think we all know that by now. Added to that, I was hoping that we’d be able to live in peace with the neighbors (the ones we acknowledge and the one we don’t) and focus on improving the country and making life better for the Lebanese after these finds and I believe this is what we should put our hopes on (Look at the Qatari Model for example).
Last but not least, I saw the ad with the train (or Metro) in the background but I couldn’t take a shot of it. I don’t know how feasible this project is and I will be waiting to see if the minister in question has any future plans for that specially with the lack of urban planning or any planning in this country.
All in all, it’s very nice to dream and let people dream of a wealthy country with a solid infrastructure, prosperous economy and a strong army but at the moment, most Lebanese are dreaming of leaving the country and struggling to have a lira in their pockets at the end of the month. So it wouldn’t hurt if all officials got down to Earth for a second and reached out to the people’s real needs instead of living in lalaland.
Thank you Hala
Just one comment, despite the true fact that Army issue is not related to funding rather to a political decision and despite that i don’t agree that repeating the cliche “we want to live in peace with our so called neighbors” will eventually make us living in peace… who said that peace don’t need an army to protect it.
If you sign a US company to dig out the oil, you will live in peace with your neighbors 🙂
Very true
Lebanon has been fighting since its creation, what good has war brought the country?
Why not give peace a chance for once and for a change?even if that means signing peace treaties with the enemy?
Look at how good it has done Switzerland.
I am not so sure I want to look at the Qatari model as it is not sustainable and I don’t want my government blowing money buying foreign assets. I would rather look at Norway, Canada or Australia instead. They are one of a few that managed the resources they have without destroying their society (Africa) or squandering their wealth (GCC).
How stupid does the minister think we are? Better spend the money on actually doing something about the freaking electricity rather than idiotic campaigns with contracts going to his wife’s PR company (remember the ON/OFF campaign, it’s been OFF for a while, HELLO!!!)
Elections are getting closer and I am sure this is an easy way to make elections propaganda on our dime.