The poor state of Lebanon’s aging infrastructure has stifled any conducive environment for growth and communal development, while it has been a direct contributor in keeping the country separated. The overhaul of public infrastructure will not only alleviate long-term structural issues, but will have a direct link to social reforms via human-centric urban planning that will lead to domestic growth.

Telecommunications

• Appointing a telecommunications sector regulating committee, based on competency standards exclusively.
• The application of the Telecommunications Law No. 431/2002, especially with regard to appointing the telecommunications sector regulatory body and exercising its powers in accordance with the rules to establish its independence from the competent minister and establishing Liban Telecom
• Separating ownership of the telecommunications network from service providers, so that the network is in the public domain and the right to operate it remains open to both the public and private sectors, with the aim of preserving state revenues from the sector and promoting competition
• Completing the project of connecting the fiber optics network to homes, institutions and companies across all Lebanese regions within a specified time frame
• Rehabilitating communications stations and equipping them with the necessary equipment and programs
• Taking all measures to ensure the security of the communications network, and to protect all its information and data
• Restructuring the Ogero committee, in order to put an end to corruption and clientelism especially in random recruitment, so as to raise its productivity
• Adopting seconds instead of minutes as a basic unit for call pricing and monitoring the validity of the lines annually

Transport: Ensuring Safety and Wellbeing of Citizens

• Enforcing road safety and regulations/laws including protection of rights of pedestrians, disabled individuals, cyclists and ensuring cars cannot park on sidewalks, prioritizing people
• Revisiting traffic laws to protect and prioritize vulnerable road users, including the implementation of safe lighting of streets at night and in tunnels
• Adopting transport planning at the ministerial and municipal level
• Restoring the public bus network though:
  • Organizing the bus networks and creating digital applications to facilitate their use
  • Mapping the existing routes
  • Setting schedules and apps to facilitate access
  • Improving and regularly maintaining bus stops
  • Implementing a national ticketing system
  • Implementing a training program for drivers and provide trainings to current drivers
  • Protecting and including the informal system
  • Taking over the informal routes - maybe apply a form of authentication or special license for buses to operate
  • Delineating bus lanes where possible either through road paint or segregated lanes
  • Increasing the number of safe bus stops
• Including the rail and train networks in any integrated strategy for mobility through:
  • Establishing a new railway network to facilitate transportation between Lebanese regions
  • Bring backing the tram to Beirut and large cities like Tripoli or Saida
  • Maintaining and protecting the train tracks on the coastal train road
  • Restoring parts of the rail network
• Creating lanes on national and secondary roads (those that allow it) especially for public cars
• Developing an urban planning blueprint to secure adequate parking spaces in crowded streets and neighborhoods and reviewing the park meter contracts with local authorities to ensure transparency
• Specifying the prerogatives of the traffic and vehicles management body and preventing it from conducting any auctioning or bidding outside the legal framework
• Reviewing all contracts signed by the traffic and vehicles management body, especially those related to the mechanical inspection department

Sustainable Mobility

• Creating appropriate financial incentives for the purchase of hybrid and fuel-efficient cars
• Reducing and discourage car-use though:
  • Applying financial limits to de-incentivize the use of cars
  • Special zoning taxes to reduce use of cars within dense cities
  • Reduce or control the use of valet parking which creates fake illusions of space
• Ensuring that the World Bank loan worth $295M for the Greater Beirut Transport Project is not repurposed ahead of elections
• Encouraging national production of bicycles as well as the second hand market and grow the bicycle market and reduce or remove taxes on bicycle imports
• Launching awareness campaigns that encourage “Bike to Work” and Car Free Days or Streets
• Adopting an education curriculum in schools and for public sector employees on active travel
• Improving public spaces and infrastructure that enable active travel, and enhance road safety and accessibility though:
  • Improving crosswalks, sidewalks and street infrastructure and developing a cycling network
  • Creating spaces suitable for persons with special needs and physical disabilities
  • Installing bicycle parking spaces
  • Creating low-speed/emission zones or even pedestrian areas to boost economic productivity of certain areas and promote safer spaces for residents
  • Limiting the creation of parkings in favor of green spaces
• Rehabilitating the Qlayaat airport to enable it to operate civilian flights
• Rehabilitating the seaports as part of a comprehensive national plan