Beirut seems in a building frenzy, and Bourj Hammoud, a suburb east of the city on the other side of the Beirut River, is no exception. Parallel to the highway in an area known as Sandjak, the municipality is to construct three residential-commercial towers, a multi-story parking and a public garden. The project has generally been well received as a sound attempt to upgrade the area and improve access to Bourj Hammoud. The remaining inhabitants however, await eviction and an uncertain future. They complain that the compensation by the municipality is not sufficient.
With an estimated cost of $20 million, the Sandjak project is an initiative from the municipality, which is quite a rarity in Lebanon. The local authorities bought the land from its Lebanese owners for some $2 million and are currently in the process of securing loans. The two-and- three-room apartments of up to 120 square meters, however, will not be available for just anyone.
“Bourj Hammoud is saturated,” said Raffi Kok Oghlanian, project manager at Sayfco Holding and deputy mayor of Bourj Hammoud. “A lot of young people are leaving. One of the goals of this project is to offer affordable housing to the newly-wed and young people born in Bourj Hammoud.”
When completed, the project is to significantly change the face of Bourj Hammoud, offering direct access from the highway, as well as ample parking facilities. This to great relief for Bourj Hammoud’s thousands of shopkeepers, as the area today is only accessible from two narrow entry points and suffers from endless traffic jams and a chronic lack of parking.
As always, however, progress comes at a price. While half of the Sandjak area has already been demolished, the other half is still standing, yet awaits a similar fate. The some 100 families still living there await a notification to leave, which is likely to arrive between 6 and 12 months from now. “I was born here 43 years ago,” said the owner of a small supermarket. “I now live in Antelias, but my parents are still here. Where can they go? The municipality gave us $13,000. The house next to us got $5,000. What can you do with that? ”
The good of the many
Oghlanian said he understands people’s grievances, yet added that the problem of a few cannot stand in the way of a project that benefits the whole community. What’s more, according to him, the municipality has done everything to soften the suffering of current and former inhabitants. “We asked the Lebanese court to look into the dossier and formulate a recommendation regarding compensation, according to which we paid everyone up to $15,000,” he said.
To understand the specific difficulties related to the Sandjak Project, within the wider context of urban development in densely populated Bourj Hammoud, it is necessary to have a brief look at the area’s history. Situated on the eastern bank of the now nearly waterless Beirut River, Bourj Hammoud is one of Beirut’s most distinctive areas, for several reasons.
Although having become more and more mixed in recent years, the quarter is still predominantly Armenian. The area was only developed from the 1920s onward when survivors of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1918) arrived in Beirut. Until then, it had been an area of fields and agricultural land dotted with farms. In fact, Bourj Hammoud is named after the only two-storey house that existed at the time, which happened to be owned by the Hammoud family.
The first development centered around four clusters: Marash, Cis, Adana and Sarkis. Apart from the latter, they were named after cities in what is today eastern Turkey, yet what Armenians refer to as “historical Armenia.” Gradually, as wood made way for concrete, the former refugee camp became an integral part of the Lebanese capital. In fact, with some 150,000 inhabitants cramped together on an area of some 2.4 square kilometers, Bourj Hammoud ranks among the most densely populated areas in Lebanon and the region.
Bourj Hammoud has also become one of Greater Beirut’s most popular shopping districts. The area offers a true high street, mainly catering for a middle class clientele. In addition, it is famous for its many jewelers, watch makers and goldsmiths. Finally, it is quite an industrious area as well. Inside the labyrinth of little alleyways, there are hundreds of textile, shoe and metal workshops, while heavier industry is located on the seashore.
“The first urban development in Bourj Hammoud took place on land donated to the Armenian community,” Oghlanian explained. “The land was divided in smaller plots, on which people constructed their homes. Later on, the municipality bought land and allowed people to construct their homes. They own their homes, yet can only sell with permission of the municipality. The third form of urban development was technically illegal. People constructed their home on land that was not theirs. Such was predominantly the case in Sandjak.”
One should know that Sandjak was not just any area within Bourj Hammoud. It had a bad reputation. “Even the police would not dare go inside,” one shopkeeper said. Others claimed it was a hotbed for criminality. Yet, despite the occasional “mafia” graffiti on some of the walls still standing in Sandjak, one hardly feels unsafe when walking around. Regardless of its reputation being true or not, the fact is that Sandjak was one of the quarter’s poorest areas.
Local demographics
“There were essentially three groups of people living in Sandjak,” Oghlanian explained. “First of all, there were a number of foreign workers who in recent years had rented rooms. Second, there were people who had been renting from the original Armenian owners for a very long time. And third, there were the people who constructed the houses and still lived there.”
The first group was given notice to leave and look for alternative lodging. The second group was paid between $2,000 and $5,000, while the third group received between $5,000 and $15,000. That may not seem a lot, and has to do with the fact that most of the dwellings were constructed illegally in the first place.
“The Lebanese owners of the land were more than happy to sell, as it was quite impossible for them to remove the inhabitants,” Oghlanian explained. “Now, we could have gone to court and just thrown them off the land. However, that would be rather inhumane and cause a major upset within the community. Hence, we asked the Lebanese court for a recommendation and paid compensation.”
The Sandjak project is part of a wider initiative by the municipality to upgrade Bourj Hammoud. “The government has long considered Bourj Hammoud as the backyard of the capital,” said Oghlanian. “Every time it planned a sewage treatment plant or factory, Bourj Hammoud was proposed. We, as a municipality, have worked very hard to change that perception. Bourj Hammud is a not only a residential, but also a very productive commercial and industrial area.”
Over the past decade, the face of Bourj Hammoud has indeed changed. The municipality invested significantly in a beautification campaign. Streets and pavements were widened, trees planted, public lightning improved and building facades were cleaned and painted. By law, building owners are obliged to take care of the façade, but the municipality decided to exercise that right instead — all in all, some $10 million was spent.
In addition, with financial aid of the central government the area’s infrastructure was improved, notably the sewage system — which often was not able to absorb severe rains — was upgraded for $7 million. Where 10 years ago streets would flood after a heavy shower, today everything stays dry.
As Bourj Hammoud offers relatively little room for expansion, the Sandjak Project has the potential to significantly alter the area, as well as one of Beirut’s main access roads. Construction is expected to start within a year and could be completed by 2010. The compensation paid to Sandjak’s inhabitants and their future, however, is not the municipality’s only worry.
According to Oghlanian, the municipality calculated that the project is to cost some $20 million. But seeing the rapidly rising costs of construction materials such as steel and concrete, the price could increase significantly. In that sense, it seems construction should start sooner rather than later, at least seen from the municipality’s point of view, though the remaining inhabitants of Sandjak no doubt have a different opinion.
