Jal el-Dib Bridge to Be Dismantled ‘Within 5 Days’
The head of the Council of Development and Reconstruction, Nabil al-Jisr, said Thursday that the Council will start dismantling the Jal el-Dib metal bridge that links Beirut with the North within five days.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3), al-Jisr said: “We are setting the stage for removing the bridge but only after guaranteeing” a route for drivers that cross under the bridge to head towards Beirut.
“The dismantling of the bridge begins within five days,” he said.
The swift move to remove the bridge was made after complaints that it could face a fate similar to the collapse of a six-storey building in Ashrafiyeh’s Fassouh area on Sunday that left 27 people dead and 12 others injured.
Al-Jisr claimed that the Council was the first to ask for the dismantling of the bridge. His comments came two days after Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi told the same radio station that he had previously sent experts to inspect the bridge and informed the Council about the cracks in its foundations.
But he lamented that the state-run body hadn’t yet made any move to resolve the issue.
Security forces limited traffic on the bridge since news broke out about its safety on Tuesday.
They also erected signs banning heavy motor vehicles from crossing the bridge that was built shortly after the start of the civil war in 1975.
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