By Reem Tombokti.
Tripoli, 25 July 2013:
The future of a Benghazi agricultural project is in doubt, with the Spanish backers now threatening . . .[restrict]to withdraw over land ownership disputes.
The agricultural project was to set up farms in the east of the country. Smallholdings would be built on an estimated area of 600 hectares, and a further area of 10,000 hectares would be occupied by larger farms.
Repeated attacks from locals disputing who owns this land, however, are making the Spanish firm wary about continuing.
Project managers are pleading with the Libyan government to intervene and save the scheme from being abandoned, according to Libyan news agency LANA.
The venture, which is apparently worth LD 600 million, is being run by the investment arm of the Man Made River.
An official at the Spanish embassy in Tripoli said that this was an old project. The embassy had no idea about the project, he said, other than it was “under negotiation.” [/restrict]
