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The “Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation” responded in a statement, with “complete and incomplete documents”, to an article published in a newspaper on December 7, 2020 under the title “With documents: Gibran Water Corporation and Mount Lebanon compensate with 10 million dollars “, based on documents. Partial, incomplete and inaccurate information that results in distorted facts and reputation and subjective conclusions, contrary to what you claim that accuracy and truth are essential.
Therefore, Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation is compelled to correct the facts to the public as follows:
First: in the Jannah Dam archive
1- The article says that the Foundation paid ten million dollars and 662 thousand compensation to the contractor for the construction of the Jannah Dam (A. Gutiérrez Company) for obstacles and delays in implementation according to the decision of the Board of Directors of 07/25 / 2019 in violation of the law without the approval of the supervisory consultant, the technical audit office and the Ministry. Energy!!! However, if the author of the article had taken the trouble to review the institution, he would have corrected his erroneous and random information because the institution would not have paid a single penny under the private FIDIC contract without adhering to the legal principles adopted in such cases.
After preparing a new comparative schedule, the ARTELIA consultancy reevaluated and approved the required modifications and signed the table without any modification to the basic value of the project and without any reservation. In a next step, the auditor’s office of BUREAU VERITAS performed the financial audit and signed the statements.
Consequently, the corporation’s board of directors approved the file and sent it to the Ministry of Energy, which took note of the whole matter after studying it by the General Directorate of Investments.
It should be noted that those decisions are not under the umbrella of the guardianship authority. On the contrary, Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation have been informing the Minister of Guardianship of all works related to major projects, such as the Jannah Dam project and the project to bring the Awali River to Beirut and its suburbs, in order to stay informed and follow up.
We attach to the response the documents that evidence the consent of the consultant and the signature of the audit office and the guardianship authority, which determine the transparency and legality of the processing of this file, far from secondary documents and other preparatory correspondence that do not rise at the level of crucial documents as you mentioned and indicated in the broad title and in the article.
2- The article claims and repeats information on the fact that the company belonging to the family and brothers of the General Director of the Corporation is a subcontractor of the concrete and engineering works in the Jannah Dam project, which constitutes a conflict of interests and violations of the provisions of the Public Accounting Law.
In fact, for the umpteenth time, it becomes clear to those who want to hear and understand that the Gibran Group Company was established eleven years before engineer Jean Gibran assumed his responsibilities in Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation. What law prohibits the establishment of a legal and legitimate framework for work to provide a decent life? Knowing that Engineer Gibran, with the increase in his public responsibilities three years ago, has completely moved away from taking care of company affairs.
In any case, this company works in the Jbeil region close to its center, which is three hours from the Jannah Dam, making it impossible to accept the delivery of cement, as the concrete for the construction of the Jannah Dam is an exceptional mixture that is manufactured in the workshop by the Brazilian contractor (The A. Gutiérrez company), who brought from abroad equipment for the manufacture, transport, laying and stacking of this concrete. After his investigation of local cement factories, he signed a contract with Cimenterie Nationale, which made cement for the project, Slag Cement, not Portland Cement.
Therefore, the accusation contained in the article in this regard is a specific slander.
Second: regarding the water pumping station in Ghalboun
The construction of this station is part of a grant from the European Union for the project “More sustainable supply of drinking water for vulnerable communities living in a more protective environment. The conditions of the donor who financed the project and the water institution are met. you must understand this condition. ” In this context, ACTED and CISP The Ministry of Energy and Water will have some additional works related to the rooms of the two wells, the pumping station, the electromechanical works, the equipment works in both pumping stations, with the application of systems of water treatment and the necessary works related to the elevation lines and connections to the existing tanks.
The above clarifies that Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation is not the funder and has nothing to do with any executive or material aspect. The foreign donor and the project executing agency are known to hold bids and tenders to select the contractor and implement their projects. He ran a bid that was won by ARISON. Since Gibran Group Concrete Company is located in the Jbeil area, where the project is being implemented, it was one of the companies that ARISON dealt with to secure a small portion of the precast concrete because other quantities of this concrete were obtained from other companies. of precast concrete in the region; Those who cared about the truth should have shown photos of all the companies involved in the implementation. (Attached is a photo showing a truck belonging to another cement company working on the Ghalboun pump station project.)
Third – Preservation of the right to prosecution
Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Corporation hopes that the media will continue to play its pioneering role in illuminating the facts for the public opinion, away from marketing and waging deceptive imaginary battles, especially if they are for deliberate and immediate political goals, at a time when the performance of the institution is far from any political consideration. And if defamation is part of the popular fight against corruption today, it has gone in the wrong direction because the institution has not stopped fighting it at home and abroad since its current director general assumed his responsibilities in 2018 in a task that It is not over yet. In all cases, the Foundation recalls that its doors are open to objective inquiries and investigations with the aim of improving people’s service and increasing their trust in this service. As for other distortions, slander and deceit, it will be the case of the Judicial Power and the Prosecutor’s Office.
While we reserve all of our rights to prosecute any party, we request on your part, in accordance with current laws and regulations, to publish this full clarification in a form that appears on the site similar to the article in question.
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