Libyan Capital’s Neglected Old City Gets Facelift

In alleys criss-crossing the Libyan capital’s Old City, construction crews are hard at work restoring former glory to architectural treasures neglected under ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi and in the decade since.

Pushing wheelbarrows, a clutch of workers ferry sand, dismembered concrete or gravel, and others dig or hammer away, bent double or down on one knee.

The substantial restoration underway seeks to “preserve the heritage of the Old City” in Tripoli, said Mahmoud al-Naas, head of the management committee overseeing the project.

Covering around 50 hectares (123 acres), the Old City is an “architectural joy” — but this makes the “enormous” work required a “heavy responsibility”, he said.

The project, funded largely by the state, comes as Libya is undergoing a tentative political renewal.

A new prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, was selected earlier this year through a UN-backed inter-Libyan dialogue to steer the North African country to December elections, bringing hope that unrelenting chaos since Kadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011 might finally end.