#déblais

Even With Gaza Under Siege, Some Are Imagining Its Reconstruction - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/business/gaza-economy-rebuilding.html

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/04/26/multimedia/00gaza-econ-01-mlkq/00gaza-econ-01-mlkq-facebookJumbo.jpg

The plan centers on a series of major projects, including a deepwater port, a desalination plant to provide drinking water, an online health care service and a transportation corridor connecting Gaza with the West Bank. A fund for reconstruction and development would oversee future undertakings.

The most forward-looking components, such as reducing customs barriers to trade and introducing a new currency in place of the Israeli shekel, assume the eventual establishment of Palestinian autonomy, a step that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to resist. He has also brushed aside the prospect that the future governance of Gaza could include a role for the Palestinian Authority, the most obvious potential partner for the reconstruction initiative.

The enormous price tag of any rebuilding is another impediment. The toll of the damage to Gaza’s crucial infrastructure has reached $18.5 billion, according to a recent estimate by the World Bank and the United Nations. Half the population is on the verge of famine, and more than a million people lack homes.
[...]
While visions of modern transportation systems may now seem tangential to Gaza’s essential needs, the plan is governed by the assumption that even temporary structures like emergency housing and health care facilities must be thoughtfully placed to avoid squandering future possibilities.

“Temporary tends to become permanent very quickly,” Mr. Choa said. “Someone says, ‘We’re going to put this big refugee camp right here,’ but that could be exactly where you want to put a wastewater treatment plant or a transit line in the future. You then create an obstacle.”
[...]
The ideas that have emerged from the workshops extend into the next quarter-century. These include the erection of a cutting edge soccer stadium and the elevation of the existing soccer team to a more internationally competitive level, and the creation of a strategy to encourage a Palestinian film industry.
[j’avoue mon scepticisme, voire mon effarement, sur cette affaire de stage]
The deepwater port would be established on an artificial island built from the nearly 30 million tons of debris and rubble that are expected to cover the territory whenever the conflict is over, with removal anticipated to take as long as a decade.

The plan proposes the establishment of a degree-granting Technical University of Reconstruction in northern Gaza that would draw students from around the world. They would study strategies to dig out from disaster and spur development, using postwar Gaza as a living laboratory.

The destruction is so extensive that the usual means of administering aid and overseeing rebuilding will be inadequate, said the World Bank official.

American government agencies face legal restrictions on working directly with the Palestinian Authority. Other institutions are reluctant to transact with the Palestinian Authority given its reputation for corruption. All of this makes private companies critical elements of the plan, even as they too will grapple with the risks of investing in a highly uncertain climate.
[inévitablement, le pont aux ânes de la pensée néolibérale]

While the largest projects require clarity over the future political administration of Gaza, other initiatives, such as those aimed at encouraging small businesses, could begin as soon as military activities cease.

“I want to focus on how we open the bread store, how we get factories up and running,” said Jim Pickup, chief executive of the Middle East Investment Initiative, a nonprofit that finances development projects. “Every truck that is going to remove rubble is a small business itself, supporting a family.”

Les #déblais sont à la fois une contrainte, très lourde à gérer et à manipuler, au sens propre, mais aussi une ressource susceptible de générer des revenus par son transport et sa transformation, et une matière première à réutiliser dans ce projet de #port, dont il me semble des entreprises israéliennes ont déjà proposé des visions il y a quelques mois. En tout cas, en 2017, les Israéliens avaient déjà diffusé des images de tels projets : ▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/israel-minister-for-intelligence-promotes-plan-for-gaza-island/2017/06/27/4e30586e-5b30-11e7-aa69-3964a7d55207_video.html
#urbanisme #reconstruction
Tout cela est un peu délirant alors qu’on ne sait pas vers quelle gouvernance de Gaza on va, et surtout quelle souveraineté l’entité aura... ce type de projet présuppose d’emblée une forme très forte de dépendance. Sans doute l’idée c’est : le gaz paiera. Je suis surpris que les Emiratis, les Saoudiens et les Qataris ne soient pas mentionnés dans l’article (sauf à l’état de fantasme : « The new initiative has yet to engage with the Gulf countries, Mr. Choa said. »)

Recycling rubble to rebuild Gaza homes a risky necessity - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East
▻https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/01/recycling-rubble-rebuild-gaza-homes-risky-necessity

https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/social_media_share/public/2022-01/GettyImages-1237384306.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=n32pR1Pz

While the widely available and cheap material is needed in Gaza’s resource-poor construction sector, rebuilding with the rubble of Gaza’s destroyed buildings poses challenges.

#paywall #ruines #déblais #débris

The Gaza Strip has endured four wars in 13 years, leaving behind a lot of debris and rubble. Local construction companies have found a way to use it and provide opportunities for many workers in an area that lacks building materials amid the Israeli blockade in place since 2007.

While the material can be of wide use, recovering and processing it involves risks, as the material may be damaged. Its availability means some residents us it for much more purposes than is safe.

The Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza reported that the last 11-day war in May 2021 has left 270,000 tons of rubble, while the United Nations Development Program says that it has worked with the local private sector to remove 2.5 million metric tons of rubble left over from previous wars.

Gaza resident Raafat Rizk told Al-Monitor, “I had not intended to complete the construction of my new house now, but the availability of low-cost materials made out of the rubble of destroyed buildings encouraged me to do so.” He explained that the walls of his house are made of blocks manufactured from the rubble of buildings but he used Israeli gravel, which is of better quality but more expensive, to construct the concrete roof.

Rizk added that he procured other supplies, such as iron doors, marble and tiles, from among the remnants of destroyed buildings. He said he was less concerned with the risks involved and that the most important thing is that he finally finished building his house.

Mahmoud Samara, owner of the Samara demolition company, told Al-Monitor that his company makes agreements with the owners of destroyed buildings to purchase and remove the rubble. The Ministry of Public Works and Housing approves the removal the rubble on the condition that the buildings’ broken up foundations are delivered to the ministry to be used in widening the roads to Gaza’s ports.

“We bear the cost of transporting them to the ports, not the ministry,” Samara said.

He explained that scrap iron is processed out on the spot and the rubble is taken to his factory and crushed for reuse in paving streets or making floors for houses. The company also makes concrete blocks, which are cheaper than those made from Israeli gravel, Samara said, adding, “There is a price difference of $150 per 1,000 blocks between the two.”

He explained that after the May conflict his factory collected about 10,000 tons of rubble, about 6,000 tons of which was recycled and is up for sale. He pointed out that the construction sector picked up after the war but Gaza’s economic conditions remain an obstacle in the market.

Samara added, “Before the war … we barely had any work. We only had Israeli gravel, which people are reluctant to buy, except for institutions with the resources and the need to do so.”

He said the rubble is safe to reuse in construction aside from roofs, explaining, “I advise consumers not to use them for building roofs. At the end of the day, they decide for themselves based on their purchasing power. Many houses were damaged during the last storm because recycled concrete blocks were used for the roofs.”

He explained that there is high demand for recycled iron, which is cheaper than concrete blocks. “We have extracted approximately 1,000 tons of iron," he said. "Recycled iron is sold for $580 per ton, while one ton of Israeli iron costs $1,300.”

He said that recycled iron’s uses are limited. Highly deteriorated material is sold at $220 per ton, and is used in making cages and fencing for farm animals. Samara explained that the company rejects some scrap iron that is too old.

Samara said that the Ministry of Public Works and Housing does not monitor the process of removing and recycling rubble. He said the ministry only gives approval.

Economic analyst Moin Rajab told Al-Monitor that Gaza had to recycle the rubble because there is no space to store in in the small enclave. He added, “Gaza treats the rubble as free raw material from which it can extract new products used in different fields.”

Rajab explained that recycling and properly disposing of it has been good for the Palestinian economy. He noted, “Were it not for this rubble, for example, the government would have had to buy or manufacture huge cement blocks to widen the port roads.”

Rajab noted that for various reasons, international institutions prohibit the reuse of construction waste in their projects. He stressed the need to observe safety measures while handling and processing rubble, saying that experts examine the material for any risks that may arise in recycling it.

Rajab noted that despite the damage the war inflicted on Gaza, it has contributed to reviving the construction sector and providing hundreds of jobs.

Que faire des 43 millions de tonnes de #déblais de terre du Grand Paris ?
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2016/10/21/que-faire-des-43-millions-de-tonnes-de-deblais-de-terre-du-grand-paris_50180

http://s1.lemde.fr/image/2016/10/21/644x322/5018056_3_e4d5_maison-de-famille-de-290-m2-a-schlins-en-a_a0e762e09c9da1d3779a6369d1ff386e.jpg

Que faire des montagnes de déchets de terre qui ne cessent de croître et s’étendent à perte de vue, tels des paysages lunaires, sur le territoire de certaines communes ?

..

Pourquoi en effet ces monceaux de rebuts ne seraient-ils pas recyclés et transformés en matériaux de construction ? « Après tout, la construction en terre est une tradition ancestrale, rappelle l’architecte Paul-Emmanuel Loiret. Si les pays développés ont, après la seconde guerre mondiale, abandonné la terre au profit de matériaux industriels (ciment, acier, aluminium…) pour construire, à grande échelle, plus vite, plus haut et “plus moderne”, un tiers de l’humanité vit aujourd’hui dans des édifices en terre. »
« La France elle-même regorge de patrimoines architecturaux bâtis en terre il y a des siècles et toujours habités, comme les maisons et fermes en pisé de la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, les longères d’Ille-et-Vilaine autour de Rennes ou encore les maisons en torchis et à colombages de Normandie et de l’est de la France », rappelle-t-il.

Les 4 500 sondages géotechniques réalisés par la Société du Grand Paris avant le lancement du chantier du Grand Paris Express ont révélé une grande richesse du sous-sol francilien. « Celui-ci contient une grande quantité d’#argiles et de #limons, aujourd’hui très peu valorisés, mais qui peuvent servir à constituer des matériaux de construction en terre crue, avec du sable, des graviers, des cailloux », explique Serge Joly, commissaire avec son homologue Paul-Emmanuel Loiret de l’exposition « Terres de Paris. De la matière au matériau », qui se tient jusqu’au 8 janvier au Pavillon de l’Arsenal, à Paris. Une exposition qui révèle le potentiel jusqu’alors inexploré de toutes ces terres excavées en Ile-de France et qui présente les différentes techniques de valorisation possibles.

#construction #terre (à ne pas confondre l’autre :))