Q&A – Solidere’s Mounir Douaidy

The company the Lebanese love to hate is Solidere, Lebanon’s largest developer tasked with rebuilding the Beirut Central District (BCD) after the civil war. While many enjoy sipping coffee by the yachts in Zaitunay Bay, Lebanon’s Porto Fino, and walking around in the Souks, still undergoing further expansion, and even jogging by the newly built marina, there are fears the company has gone beyond its mandate and is now competing with, instead of supporting, businesses and developers. For a better understanding of how the BCD operates, Executive sat with Mounir Douaidy, the general manager of Solidere.  Solidere has signed contracts for several projects on the Waterfront district, among which are KidzMania and The One. These have been criticized as being illegal as they do not seem to be temporary structures as per the law?  For 10 years, there was only BIEL (Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center). A few years