After a 17-year closure, Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, officially opened Tripoli Zoo today after the completion of its renovation and rehabilitation by the Tripoli General Services Company. The Zoo will open to the public on the first day of Eid.
During his tour of the Zoo with its management, and accompanied by children from the Tripoli’s Children’s Home and several families, Aldabaiba was briefed on its readiness to receive visitors and to return to being a major entertainment destination that gathers children and their families in the atmosphere of Eid.
During the tour, the Prime Minister inspected the extensive maintenance and development work carried out on the nearly 45-hectare zoo. Comprehensive civil works were implemented, including the renovation of more than 80 restrooms, the refurbishment of the main arena with granite marble, the rehabilitation of the water, sewage, and electrical networks, and the modernization of the animal enclosures and houses. Painting and renovation work covered more than 45,000 square meters.
The work also included upgrading the technical systems, with the installation of more than 450 surveillance cameras, audio, alarm, and security systems, and modern electronic gates for access control. On the environmental front, extensive landscaping and planting work was carried out, including the supply of more than 9,000 trees and shrubs of approximately 70 different species, the creation of green spaces and integrated irrigation networks, as well as the development of children’s play areas and recreational facilities.
From military base to recreational centre
The reopening of the zoo is symbolic in that during the civil war and Hafter’s war on Tripoli, the zoo became a security and military base for the then local Busleem militia, the Support and Stability Agency (SAA).
It was targeted by the Hafter forces during his war on Tripoli in long range tit-for-tat shelling as the SAA had used the extensive grounds and the cover of the woods within the zoo as the launching pad for its shelling of his forces in the south of Tripoli.
After the fall of the SAA as a militia, the authorities subsequently discovered mass graves in its grounds believed to have been buried by the SAA.
The return of the operation of the zoo completes its turnaround into the leading and most popular recreational centre in Tripoli for decades.
