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I was happy to read that groups of Libyan engineers from the Libyan Housing and Infrastructure Board (HIB) will be sent to the USA for training. A hundred engineers of four groups of 25 will be sent for training over the next two years, as well as a group of 3 top HIB executives who will do a year-long intensive project-and-construction-management program.
This is fantastic news and is the kind of know-how transfer that I have consistently said Libya needs. I am also pleased about the number of students being sent as in my view we need thousands of Libyans to be sent abroad for training and re-training every year.
I am also pleased that there was a mix of both top executives and lower engineers sent as this means that both management and the managed are receiving similar training and can therefore work in sync when they get back.
Equally those fortunate few who were lucky enough to get sent abroad for training can hopefully come back and act as 'pebbles in the water' sending out ripples of improved knowledge-transfer throughout the system and nation.
On the other hand, besides the need for urgent and continuous training, I have written previously in various Tripoli Post articles about Tripoli's road, car parking and Libyanisation problems.
A key phrase that caught my attention in the press release was that the training 'will help the people of Libya enhance and sustain the built, natural and social environments of their country.' It is this social element that I am particularly concerned about.
Tripoli today has no mass public transport system – neither a bus system nor an underground or tram system. The pedestrian is very much a second class citizen compared to the car. There are very few wide enough pavements without cars parking on them and even fewer overhead footbridges.
We are worried about the speed at which the city is growing with a quarter of Libya's 6 million population estimated to live in our capital Tripoli. We worry where the sewage is going and how much of it is leaking into the sea where our kids swim.
We are constantly frustrated by the roads that seem to be permanently dug-up. We hope that the 'project management' part of the Libyan engineers' training will put a stop to the Libyan water, electricity, sewage and telephone departments taking it in turns to dig up the same bits of the same road consecutively. We sometimes think they are playing a joke on us!
And in view of this new and rapid urbanization that has occurred and is occurring in Libya's recent history I hope that the training involves future planning and projection and anticipation.
By studying and learning some of the key lessons experienced in some of the major metropolises of the USA we can hopefully benefit from those that apply to Libya. Libya's infrastructure being built today should project to and anticipate how our cities of 20 to 50 years' time will be.
Another key word in the statement was 'maintenance'. Libya has had an unfortunate habit and history of spending big on projects only for them to fade away - leading to even more expenditure. In many cases we do need in Libya the latest and best technology, but this must be balanced out by a realistic appraisal of our future and sustainable ability to maintain any project.
This ability could be technical, know-how or financial. Projects that had historically constantly needed expensively imported spare-parts had initially fallen into neglect and finally been discarded or abandoned.
I had written in an earlier article about the 'Libyanisation' policy – which has many definitions and applications. In this case, Libyanisation should mean design appropriate to Libyans and Libyan natural and physical environment.
For example, there should be a pedestrian or overhead crossing at every roadside mosque. Mosques can attract hundreds of prayers especially at key prayer times. They all need adequate car parking facilities if they are not to continue congesting roads.
Another good example of Libyanisation is the issue of high rise apartment blocks. Are these types of buildings what Libyans need and are they appropriate for our local environment? Are we creating modern-day ghettos as has happened in many cities in the West? Ghettos, that is, where lives become impersonal and crime becomes the norm.
Does Libya have such a shortage of land, space and money that it must build 10 or 12 storey high apartment blocks? Has the case for building high-rise blocks ever been made, or are they being built simply because it is easier, quicker, and cheaper - and they look good to guests driving-in from Tripoli International Airport?
Is living in high-rise apartments consistent with Libyan culture and traditions? Where will Libyans keep their rams on the eve of Eid al Adha (the feast of sacrifice)? Where will they slaughter their ram, cut it up and hang it? Will they all block off their balconies with bricks as they do now? Where will they hang their clothes? Will they have lifts – working lifts with maintenance contracts - or will mothers with kids, the elderly and infirm be imprisoned in their high rise flats? Where will they hold their numerous and large social occasions – births, weddings and funerals? Are shops and local amenities within easy reach or do they have to drive a car every time they need a loaf of bread?
Ultimately we need to ask who designs these buildings and infrastructures and for who are they designed? Are designers just 'copying and pasting' Western designs and applying them to Libya? The 'natural and social environment' - as the press statement says - means in my view Libyanising buildings and infrastructures to take account of local conditions and people.
I hope that those that are being trained in the USA keep all this in mind when planning the future Libya. We want an appropriately and sustainably planned Libya for tomorrow's generation.
Sami Zaptia – knowlibya.net |
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| Name:
Omara Alkabashi |
Date: 07/08/2008 18:03:06 |
Comment:
Well done, It seems to be a good idea to develop our country. |
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