Coming out of a war in general, the concern is to rebuild, in particular the cities scarred by the fighting. In Libya, the situation is quite different and paradoxical to say the least. In a country which, for ten years, has been the scene of an endless civil war, real estate is doing wonderfully. Certainly, neighborhoods in Benghazi and Tripoli were destroyed by the fighting, but at the same time, the outskirts of these cities saw thousands of homes emerge from the earth. An anarchic urbanization that the authorities find it difficult to regulate.
In Benghazi, AFP reports, the built area has doubled since 2009, from 32,000 to 64,000 hectares. And it’s not over. Thus, the Chinese group China State Construction Overseas is currently building a district of 20,000 housing units in the suburbs of Benghazi, enough to accommodate 100,000 people on 580 hectares. A new town that does not speak its name!
At the same time, the authorities are struggling to rebuild war-affected neighborhoods. Thus, the Benghazi waterfront still bears the scars of the conflict.
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Residents of destroyed homes began to build small homes, usually without any authorization, in informal settlements that were exempt from all regulations in the nearby countryside. According to the director of the City’s Projects Office, Osama Al-Kazza, half of Benghazi, or 50,000 housing units, was thus built outside the master plan. In these neighborhoods, there are no roads, no schools and even less sewers.
According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 200 000 Tripolitans were forced to flee their homes because of the fighting from 2019 to 2020. Families have sometimes settled in housing under construction, without doors or windows. Hanan and her family had no other choice due to lack of money. “There was no sign of life in the apartment. It was so windy. There was nothing when we arrived.”, tells the mother of a family who lives in an unfinished building in the city center with her two daughters, her two sons and a daughter-in-law.
Tripoli, the capital, more affected by the fighting, urgently needs new housing. And inevitably the shortage drives up prices. A small apartment easily costs 400,000 dinars when the average salary varies between 450 and 600 dinars (80 and 110 euros). Another consequence is the explosion in rents which have doubled over the past ten years according to a Tripoli real estate agent, according to AFP.