The member of the Crisis Committee in Derna, Hamad Al-Shalawi, confirmed that no amount of the budget approved for reconstruction by the World Bank, the European Union, the House of Representatives, and the Government of National Unity, estimated at 15 billion dinars, has been spent.
Al-Shalawi added in statements to Libya Al-Ahrar that the “General Command” (Haftar’s forces) organized an international conference to reconstruct Derna and the areas affected by the floods, and approved Chinese and German companies, but nothing was achieved for unknown reasons.
He said that the Reconstruction Committee – affiliated with the House of Representatives – carried out projects through national and Egyptian companies which did not participate in the reconstruction conference, saying that the work had been proceeding in a classic manner without any completion yet.
On September 10 and 11, 2023, extreme rainfall from the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel caused two dams to burst in the coastal city of Derna, some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.
This storm led to flooding that killed nearly 4,000 people, left thousands missing and displaced more than 40,000 others, according to the United Nations.
