Sally Abou Melhem, Office of Communications, communications@aub.edu.lb
The Ain El Mreisseh - Manara Corniche is finally no longer dark at night thanks to the "Let's Light Up Our Community", an initiative by Rebirth Beirut and Medco, conducted in collaboration with the American University of Beirut (AUB).
On Tuesday, January 24 at 4:30 pm, the university and its partners celebrated the lighting up of the Corniche with a concert by Teyyarit Waraq. The event was attended by Dr. Fadlo Khuri, AUB president; Gaby Fernaine, President of Rebirth Beirut; Judge Marwan Abboud, the governor of Beirut; Michelle Chammas Gharzouzi, Chief Innovation Officer at Medco; in addition to members of the AUB administration, faculty, and staff; Rebirth Beirut board members; members of the neighborhood community; activists; and fishermen of Jall el Bahr and Ain El Mreisseh ports.
As AUB's generators are supplying the energy to light up the Corniche, the 113 lamps on the municipality light poles along both sides of the main road and along the internal street serving the AUB buildings were replaced by LED lamps with light sensors for the purpose of substantially minimizing the load on the university's generators. Along with the team of Rebirth Beirut, AUB's Neighbohood Initiative at the Office of Advancement, the Procurement and Contracts Administration Department, Physical Plant Department, and the Office of Protection all worked tirelessly to make this illumination possible. Lighting up the Corniche was phase two of the collaboration, which started with lighting up Bliss Street.
“Many incidents of harassment and robbery have been reported by our female students in the past few months on the Corniche, as well as general complaints from people who run and walk on the Corniche as it is pitch dark at night. So the lighting of the Corniche will definitely increase the sense of safety for all its users," said Mona El Hallak, director of the AUB Neighborhood Initiative.
“I am also very happy for all the fishermen who go out at night, a vulnerable community of Corniche users whose needs are rarely taken into consideration," added Hallak.
The “Let's Light Up Our Community" initiative under the slogan “A Spark in the Dark" is a flagship initiative that was launched in April, 2022 by Rebirth Beirut and Medco, which works on illuminating the streets of Beirut that have been shrouded in darkness for a while. To date, the initiative has illuminated 56 streets and six main avenues in Beirut and aims to light up 200 streets by the end of 2023.