Atallah explained in a press statement that, “To date, the government has not been able to remove the rubble and isolate the spaces inside the port campus, which still include damaged cars and demolished holds left by the port explosion, despite the urgent need to rehabilitate them and put them into service.” He added: “At a time when the port administration is seeking to provide additional courtyards for truck parking and customer offices, and to increase its capacity, the decision to establish camps for the displaced in the fish market near the port further narrows the spaces instead of expanding them. The port entrances also suffer from overcrowding and difficulty in entering and exiting trucks, which forced the port administration to extend working hours to regulate movement and reduce congestion.”
He stressed that “what is required is not to transform the fish market into camps, but rather to annex these spaces to the port, and to harness efforts and mechanisms to remove the rubble and backfill that consume more than a quarter of its area, in a way that reactivates its vital economic role,” stressing: “Therefore, we call on the government to immediately retract this decision, and work to liberate and rehabilitate the port spaces, in a way that serves the highest national interest and enhances the elements of economic advancement. What is required is to expand the port, not narrow it.”
