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The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nationsagency or human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote sociallyand environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal o providing adequate shelter or all.UN-HABITATs programmes are designed to help policy-makers and local communities get to gripswith the human settlements and urban issues and nd workable, lasting solutions.For More InormationUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)UNESCO Regional OceCite Sportive Avenue Jnah BeirutE-mail: [email protected]: www.unhabitat.org
Copyright 2011By the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),All rights reserved. No part o this publication maybe reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmittedin any orm or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without priorpermission o UN-HABITAT.
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This present report wouldnt have been accomplished without the signicant
contribution o a number o institutions and individuals.
Firstly, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme presents its gratitude to theState o Kuwait or providing nancial support to develop this report, which represents akey background document or an in-depth study o the State o Arab Cities.
Thanks are also due to the lead author Dr. Nasser Yassin and his assistants Ms. Lara el-Ghaoui and Ms. Dalia Mikdashi as well as Dr. Tariq Sheikh, UN-HABITAT Manager o theState o Arab Cities programme in Kuwait. Appreciation is also extended to Ms. RaniaJalkh or photographing selected sites that were used in the report and to Mr. AhmadFakih or the report layout and design.
Finally, we would like to emphasize the eorts o UN-HABITAT team in Lebanon orproviding necessary support and ollow up to secure the nal production o the report.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Acknowledgment2
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Introduction
CHAPTER 1
1. Population and Urbanization
1.1 Lebanon Population
1.2 Urban Population
1.3 Urbanization in Lebanon
1.4 Urban Expansion
1.5 Urban Policies
CHAPTER 22. The Growing Economic Role of Cities
2.1 Service Economy
2.2 Inormal Economy
2.3 Real Estate and Construction
CHAPTER 3
3. Urban Development and Housing Conditions
3.1 The Housing Sector
3.2 Inormal Urban Areas
CHAPTER4
4. Environmental Urban Challenges
4.1 Water Demand
4.2 Wastewater Management and Sanitation
4.3 Solid Waste Management
4.4 Energy Demand
4.5 The Transportation Sector4.6 Land and Coastal Zone Degradation
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 5
5. Urban Governance
5.1 The Lebanese Political System
5.2 Local Governance Municipalities
5.3 Current Reorm Measures
5.4 Role o Private Actors as Providers
CHAPTER 6
6. Emerging Urban Issues6.1 The Socio-Economic Divide
6.2 The Spatial Divide
6.3 The Sectarian Divide
ANNEXES
Annex 1: Tasks o the Municipal Decision-Making Authority
Annex2: Tasks o the Municipal Authority
Executive Body
REFERENCES
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T a b l e o C o n t e n t s 3
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LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1: Governorates o Lebanon
Figure 2: Lebanon Age Pyramid
Figure 3: The Distribution o Major Cities and Towns in Lebanon
Figure 4: Urban Concentrations in Lebanon
Figure 5: Urban Structure Principle Proposed by the NPMPLT
Figure 6: Economic Development Principles Proposed by the NPMPLT
Figure 7: Most Visited Tourist Sites in Lebanon
Figure 8: Unemployment or Men and Women by Age
Figure 9: Cement Deliveries
Figure 10: Construction Permits by Area per Mohaaza
Figure 11: Continuity o Water Supply
Figure 12: Solid Waste Management in Greater Beirut Area
Figure 13: Distribution o Municipalities and Unions in Lebanon
Figure 14: The Distribution o the Unions o Municipalities in Relation to the Cazas
Figure 15: Horsh Beirut with its Surrounding Area
LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Distribution o the Lebanese Population across Governorates in the Year 2007
Table 2: Projected Population Growth by Regions
Table 3: Distribution o the 15-24 Year - Old Working Force by Muhaaza
Table 4: Distribution o Responsibilities Related to Land Management in Lebanon
Table 5: Components o Water Balance in Lebanon
Table 6: Estimated WWTPs Operating Capacity and Treatment Rate, 2010
LIST OF BOXESBox 1: Denition o Urbanization
Box 2: History o Growth o Beirut, Lebanons Major Urban Centre
Box 3: Patterns o Urban Expansion in Lebanon
Box 4: Areas Covered by Master Plans in Lebanon
Box 5: Slums o Beirut
Box 6: The Case o Palestinian Inormal Gatherings
Box 7: Water Law 221/2000
Box 8: Public Private Participation in Water Management - The Case od Tripoli
Box 9: Governments Commitments in the Field o SWMBox 10: Beirut Urban Transport Project
Box 11: Licensed and Unlicensed Developments along the Lebanese Coast
Figures, Tables and Boxes4
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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONSCAS Central Administration o Statistics
CDR Council or Development and Reconstruction
COM Council o Ministers
DGC Directorate General o Cooperatives
DGU Directorate General o Urbanism
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
EDL Electricite du Liban
HCUP Higher Council o Urban Planning
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GNP Gross National Product
GOL Government o Lebanon
IMF Independent Municipal Fund
MOA Ministry o Agriculture
MOE Ministry o Environment
MOF Ministry o Finance
MOIM Ministry o Interior and Municipalities
MOPH Ministry o Public Health
MOPWT Ministry o Public Work and Transport
MOSA Ministry o Social Aairs
NERP National Emergency Reconstruction Plan
NIH National Institute o Housing
NPMPLT National Physical Master Plan or the Lebanese Territory
OMSAR Oce o the Minister o State or Administrative Reorm and Development
PM Prime Minister
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESA United Nations Department o Economic and Social Aairs
UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme
UNICEF United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund
UNRWA United Nations Relie and Works Agency or Palestinian Reugees in the Near East
WB World BankWHO World Health Organization
Acronyms And Abbreviat ions 5
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Lebanon is a small country with a totalpopulation o 4,223,553 (World Bank,2010). Recent gures show that 87% othis population currently live in urban areaswith the majority - estimated at 64% -residing in large agglomerations mostly inthe metropolitan areas o Beirut and Tripoli(UN-HABITAT, 2008). The growth o citiesin Lebanon has paralleled the urbanizationprocess that is taking place globally. The
conditions generated out o urbanizationhave a number o universal commonalities.Urbanization brings an array o opportunities:economic, social and cultural. Cities areengines o economic growth and createlivelihood opportunities; they are also sites odiverse religious and sub-cultural groups andcommunities making lie in cities culturallyinspiring and socially richer. Challenges, on theother hand are numerous; they range romthe intricacy o providing equitable economic
opportunities and access to social services toall, to securing sae places and making theurban environment healthy and sustainable.
Cities in Lebanon refect these dynamics aswell, encompassing most o the economicprospects, livelihood opportunities andservices and accommodating or a diversepopulation that refects the dierent religiousand sectarian belongings, socio-economicbrackets, cultures and also nationalities in
the country. While this has contributed toenriching the cultural diversity in Lebanon, ithas also led to the creation o urban dividesand the rising o conficts especially duringand ater the Lebanese civil war (1975 1990). The evidence is clear today on theurban geography o cities and major urbancentres in Lebanon, which have becamespatially divided along these religious/sectarianlines, with pockets ormed to accommodateor the less advantaged groups (the poor,
the internally displaced, reugees, migrantworkers) mainly as inormal areas developedaround major cities1.
1See among others Beyhum (2001), Fawaz (2002),
Tabet (2001).
While the universality o challenges andopportunities brought by the urban conditionsare acknowledged, there has not beena systematic outlook at the specic andcontextualized challenges and opportunitiesin Lebanons cities and urban areas. This paperaims at lling such gap by proling the urbancondition o Lebanon. It is by no means acomprehensive study o Lebanese cities butit aims at instigating debate and dialogue on
these challenges and uture policy directionsthrough presenting an overview o Lebanonsurban condition.
This paper has been prepared to serve as abackground paper or the rst report on theState o the Arab Cities to be published bythe UN-HABITAT, the Arab League and theArab Town Organization. It is based on adesk review o existing and published studies,papers and reports. The paper ollows a
template prepared or the State o Arab Citiesand is divided into six sections: section onelooks at the population and urban growth,section two proles the urban economy,section three addresses the challenges tourban development, section our looks atthe environmental challenges in urban areas,section ve tackles urban governance andsection six concludes with the emerging urbanissues with ocus on Lebanons urban divides.
INTRODUCTION
Populat ion And Urbanizat ion6
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Box 1:
Denition of Urbanization
Urbanization is dened by the UN as the
movement of people from rural to urban
areas with population growth equating to
urban migration. Urbanization occurs naturally
from individual and corporate efforts to
reduce time and expense in commuting and
transportation while improving opportunities for
jobs, education, housing, and transportation.
Urbanization is measured by the percentage
change in a citys population from year to year.
Denitions of an urban area vary between
nations. European countries dene urbanized
areas on the basis of urban-type land use, other
countries such as the United States count in the
size of population and/or population density. In
less developed countries, in addition to land use
and density requirements, a requirement that a
large majority of the population, typically 75%,
is not engaged in agriculture and/or shing is
sometimes used.
Urbanization is estimated to consume an additional 10km o naturalareas every year in Lebanon, according to the National Physical Master
Plan or the Lebanese Territory. This picture, taken rom the Northernentrance to Beirut, shows the haphazard expansion o urbanization intothe mountains surrounding Greater Beirut Area.
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1CHAPTER
Picture showing the residential area o Khandak el Ghamik, one o theless ortunate neighborhoods around the regenerated Down Town inBeirut, accommodating or low and lower middle income dwellers.
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POPULATIONAND
URBANIZATION
I . LEBANON POPULATION
II. URBAN POPULATION
III. URBANIZATION IN LEBANON
IV. URBAN EXPANSION
V. URBAN POLICIES
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Lebanon is a Middle-Eastern Arab country
located at the heart o the Eastern shore othe Mediterranean Sea. With a total suraceo 10,452Km, Lebanon is divided into 6administrative units Governorates (Mohaazats)which include Beirut, Mount Lebanon, NorthLebanon, South Lebanon, Nabatiyeh, and Beqaa(see Figure 1). The National Survey o HouseholdLiving Conditions conducted by the CentralAdministration o Statistics, Ministry o SocialAairs and the UNDP (2007) shows the distributiono the Lebanese population among the dierent
Governorates/Mohaazats, with Beirut and MountLebanon accomodating or around 50% o thepopulation (see Table 1).
Figure 1: Governorates of LebanonSource: http://mapso.net/lebanon/static-maps/png/
lebanon-governorates-english
Table 1: Distribution of the Lebanese Populationacross Governorates in the Year 2007
1.POPULATION AND URBANIZATION
Source: CAS, MOSA, and UNDP, 2007
The suburbs o Beirut were expanded around the city to absorb
population growth; today Beirut and its suburbs respectivelyaccommodate or the highest numbers o young population amongother regions in Lebanon.
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1.1 LEBANON POPULATION
Although Lebanon has been acing a decrease
in its ertility rate during the past decade, ithas a considerable youth population. Youthin the age strata 0-24 year comprise around41% o the total population (see Figure 2).Furthermore and looking at the youth acrossLebanese regions, youth in the age-group15-24 are mostly living in urban areas witharound 61% living in Beirut, Beirut suburbs,
Mount Lebanon and the North in descending
order (see Table 3). This is mostly due to theheavy presence o educational institutions,industries, service sectors and other incomegenerating activities in urban areas such asBeirut and Tripoli. Nonetheless, the abundanceo lie opportunities in Lebanons urban areasare counteracted by countless challengesrelated to the urban setting such as theovercrowding conditions, the competitionwith oreign labor orces and the low wages,which press youth to resort to emigration and
look or opportunities outside their country oresidence. This is particularly highlighted whenexamining the discrepancy in the proportiono male to emale population in Lebanon inthe 24-29 age brackets, as refected in Figure2, with the emigration phenomenon morepronounced among males (CAS, MOSA, UNDP,2007).
The population o Lebanon is estimated to
be 4,223,553 (World Bank, 2010). Whenlooking at the midyear estimates o the totalpopulation covering the years rom 1980 till2009, an increase in the population rate canbe noted during the past 3 decades, evolvingrom 2,784,713 in 1980 to 4,223,553 in2009, that is a 1.5 old increase in a period o30 years (Ibid). These gures are projected toreach 5.2 Million in 2030, as shown in Table 2.
Source: CDR, 2005
Lebanon
Beirut and Mount LebanonNorth and Akkar
South and Nabatiyeh
Beqaa and Baalbeck-Hermel
Regions Growth from 1997-2030 (%)
21.2241.18
37.93
38.90
30.79
2,310,0001,140,000
1,040,000
740,000
5,230,000
Population in 2030
Table 2: Projected Population Growth by Regions
Source: CAS, UNDP, and MOSA, 2007
Table 3: Distribution of the 15-24 Year -Old Working Force by Mohafaza
Beirut
Mount Lebanon*Beirut Southern suburbsNorthBeqaa
South
Place of Residence Percentage (2007)
Lebanon 10 0
12.125.2
11.122.611.617.4
*Excluding Beirut Southern suburbs
Source: CAS, MoSA, and UNDP 2007
Figure 2: Lebanon Age Pyramid
44 66 202Male FemalePercentage
Populat ion And Urbanizat ion 11
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1.2 URBAN POPULATION
Historically, the process o urbanization inLebanon has been largely aected by theinterplay o global and national actors thatgave Lebanese cities, and in particular Beirutand its surrounding towns, a prominenteconomic and political role to becomepopulation magnets. Global actors in thepast century, such as the dramatic changes
in the global economic system through tradeand capital fows that pushed or a regionalservice-based economy, infuenced such urban
1.3 URBANIZATION INLEBANON
dynamics. These global actors, intermingledwith national policies and approaches that
avored the role o cities as economic engines,have attracted populations to cities rom therural areas in Lebanon as well as rom othercountries.
In the period that preceded the Frenchmandate (1922 1934), Beirut had becomean important port city and a major point opassage between the Syrian hinterland andEurope (Fawaz & Peillen, 2003) (or a historicoverview o growth in Beirut, see Box 2). Since
the 1920s, and in addition to the considerablenumber o Lebanese rural migrants whosettled down in the main cities, an equallysizeable number o reugees includingPalestinian, Armenian, Iraqis, Kurds, andothers started arriving to Lebanon escapingthe devastating impacts o armed and politicalconficts in their own countries. Most o thosereugees settled in and around the main urbanareas in what started as reugee camps, someo which evolved into becoming inormalareas. Furthermore, regional geopoliticalevents since 1948 and the closure o Haiaport have played a central role in reinorcingthe prominence o cities and in particularBeirut as major Levantine urban centre.Wars and conficts also played a central rolein infuencing the urban dynamics withinLebanon. For instance, the Lebanese civil war(1975 1990) and the Israeli wars on Lebanonin the years 1978 and 1982, have caused
massive internal displacements o hundredso thousands inhabitants who fed theiroriginal rural areas o residence to saer areasin and around the countrys urban centres.Reugees and rural migrants in addition tourban population displaced by the war settledin inormal squatted settlements whichexpanded and grew in an unorganized andsporadic manner, taking up land suraces andproducing a bulk o small low-quality housingsin the outskirts o large cities such as Beirut
and Tripoli (Fawaz and Peillen, 2003). Beirutreceived the largest share as the main urbancentre o the country. Most o the residents
Lebanons urban population is estimatedat 87% (UN-HABITAT, 2008), with around3,674,500 living in cities and urban areas,making it a highly urbanized country thatoutweighs most o the neighbouring LevantineArab countries. It is estimated that 64% o theLebanese population (2,703,000) live in largeagglomerations mostly in the city o Beirutand its surrounding suburbs along with Tripoli,Saida, Tyr and Zahle (Ibid).
The increase in population size in the last 30years took place mostly in urban areas, whereurban population increased rom 2,052,000 in1980 to 3,712,000 in 2010. This was coupledwith a decrease in the rural population rom733,000 in 1980 to 543,000 in 2010. Thephenomenon has intensied during thecivil war period (1975 1990), where massdisplacement (or feeing the war and/or insearch or better socio-economic opportunities)
has resulted in a noticeable population declinein villages and the exponential growth omajor cities and urban areas. The increase inurban population has continued throughoutthe years ollowing the end o the civil war in1990, demonstrating how urban growth inLebanon has become mostly a natural growthand relying less on in-migration rom ruralareas (UNESA, 2010).
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According to the census undertaken by the Bureau Spiral, in 1989, the city o Tripoli
represented almost 80% o the total urban population in the caza. Ten years later, thecity continues to attract the largest number o people at the caza level, representingalmost 74% o the total urban population in the area. Today, the core o the city
extending over 39 ha includes 1467 buildings, 3820 oors and 5049 residential units.
Box 2:
History of Growth of Beirut,Lebanons Major Urban Centre
Prior to the war times, Beirut constituted
the primary centre to the national economic,
educational, and cultural activities. The capital
houses the main government administrations in
addition to being the main trading point with the
availability of the port and the main international
airport. A recent article on the geography and
history of Beirut outlines the 5 development stages
the city has passed by, awarding it an important
and special trait as the Lebanese capital city.
The rst phase began under the ruling of the
Ottoman Empire (1850-1920) when Beirut became
a cornerstone in the regional networks. With
an increase in openness to the global economy,
many quarters started forming outside the city
centre. The second phase was the one under and
following the French mandate (1920-1958), when
the Political Arab refugees started coming. During
this period, Beirut was somehow demolished to
give birth to a gentried centre solely focused on
trade and commerce. The third phase represents
the urbanization sprawl and the creation of the
misery belts around the city centre coupled with
a rapid demographic growth and a massive rural
to urban migration (1958-1975). This phase was
subsequently followed by the civil war period
(1975-1990) that entailed displacements within
the city centre of different religious populations
moving inside the city. Hence the 40% faction of
the Muslim communities in the Eastern suburbs of
Beirut decreased to merely 5%; as for the Christian
faction, it decreased from between 30-40% to 5%
in West Beirut and the Southern suburbs of Beirut.
During this era, militias were taking control over
the area, and created what is known as the Green
Line, delineation between East Beirut occupied by
Christians and West Beirut, occupied by Muslims.
The last phase is the post-war period (1991 till
date), when large urban reconstruction and building
activities took place. The main motto of this
epoch was that economic growth is at the heart
of establishing and maintaining peace. Hence the
focus on post-war recovery and large scale infra-
structure projects (highways, electricity etc.) and
on regenerating a state of the art central business
district as the epitome for post-war economic
development.
Source: Yassin, 2011, b
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who escaped the tragedies o war settleddown in the surrounding belts o Beirut,creating what became the urban under-servedareas or the misery belt o Beirut Suburbs2 .
Urbanization has continued to expand in thepost-war era in Lebanon. In its report on thestate and trends o the Lebanese environment,the Ministry o Environment (2010) statesa number o driving orces behind currenturbanization in Lebanon: 1) limited land areaand high population density; 2) the sanctity othe private property as rooted in the LebaneseConstitution; 3) inadequate rudimentary
(master) planning in Lebanon which has led tohaphazard urbanization trends and 4) incomeand liestyle, where many people are able to
The National Physical Master Plan or theLebanese Territory (NPMPLT) published in 2005shows the growth o urban areas in Lebanonrom 260km2 in the 1960s to 649km2 in 1998.The nation-wide study projects a continuousincrease expected to reach 884km2 in the year2030. The projected 250-300km2 geographicgrowth is expected to be concentrated in a
number o urban areas such as the centralurban agglomerations o Lebanon (i.e. GreaterBeirut and Mount Lebanon), Tripoli and other
1.4 URBAN EXPANSION
main cities such as Baalbek, Saida and Tyr, withthe main bulk being concentrated around the
cities rather than in the centre (CDR, 2005)(see Figure 4). Urban Expansion in Lebanonis concentrated in and around main coastalcities, between secondary cities and in theorm o inormal areas on the belts o cities.
Urbanization in and around main coastalcities:In Lebanon, rapid urban expansion hasmostly taken place along the (Mediterranean)coast o the country, stretching along 200km
rom the North to the South, and aroundmajor cities where most o the industrialand commercial centres are located.Developments stretching along the coastinclude large-scale reclamation projects(public and private leisure projects, dozenso marinas or leisure boats and sheries),residential development projects, and wastewater treatment plants (MOE, 2010). Whilemost o these developments occur withlimited consideration to environmentalimpact, violations o the public maritime
domain are also signicant.
Urbanization occurring betweensecondary cities and towns:Urban expansion has not been occurringonly in major cities and peri-urban areasaround them (such as Beirut, Tripoli, Saida,Tyr), but also between secondary cities andtowns (such as Zahle Chtoura; Beirut toBauchreyeh, Sin el Fil, Fanar, Zalka) (Ibid).Cities have been growing both vertically, withthe incessant erection o high-rise residentialbuildings and towers, and horizontallyencompassing surrounding lands anddomains (see Box 3).
Source: CAS, MOSA, and UNDP, 2007
Source: CAS, MOSA, and UNDP, 2007
aord secondary houses by renting or buyingsummer houses or chalets. Major cities andtowns in Lebanon are denoted in Figure 3.
2 Misery Belt is a term commonly used by the media and
the Lebanese political fgures to designate the inormal
settlements that developed around Beirut city centre in
the southern suburbs. The term reers to the miserable
conditions characterizing the low-income housing o Beirut
suburbs ranging rom environmental degradation, lowhygienic conditions, over-crowdedness, and other dreadul
living conditions.
Pictures taken o the port in Tyr city, showing the port and the seashore development in 1898 and in 2011.
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Figure 3: The Distribution of Major Cities and Towns in Lebanon
Construction in 1963
Figure 4: Urban Concentrations in Lebanon
Construction in 1998
Source: CDR, 2005
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Urban expansion occurring in the formof informal areas developed around
major cities since the civil war:These inormal areas are inhabited byLebanese population who were displacedrom their areas o origin or by reugees,mainly Palestinian reugees and smallerreugee communities (such as the Kurdish).Reugee camps, o which remains 12 todayhousing Palestinian reugees in Lebanon,have been witnessing both vertical expansionas well as horizontal spill-over around someo them, resulting in the development o
inormal areas known as Adjacent Areas.
Urban expansion in Lebanon has beenoccurring without any guiding strategies orplans, merging the cities into single largeagglomerations, threatening arable landsand biodiversity, creating transportation andtrac problems and increasing the challengeo inrastructure and services provision.Furthermore, new architectural styles andnew housing orms have sprung up inrecent decades to replace traditional shapesand structures. Despite some legislation toprotect historic buildings, the systematictransormation o Lebanons architecturalheritage is apparent in all major cities includingBeirut, Tripoli and Saida (MOE, 2010).
Urbanization could take the orm o urban sprawl on agriculture lands as
shown in Wadi Zeineh along the Saida Road in the South. Urban sprawlraises the cost o basic urban service and inrastructure provision.
The most rapid urbanization occurs in and around major coastal cities inLebanon. The city o Tripoli expanded around the historic core to the letand right banks o the Abu Ali River.
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Urban expansion also occurs between secondary cities and towns, mergingthem into larger agglomerations such as the case o Beirut Dora Zalka
stretch, showing Ashrafye in the background.
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Population growth in Tripoli led to the expansion o the old city into the areas o Bassatine, and al-Raml on the let bank o Abu AliRiver and into al-Kobbeh and al-Tell, and the area o Abu Samra on the right banks o the river. As the local Tripolitanian bourgeoisiemoved rom the inner city into the new quarters, lower income residents o the city and other rural migrants replaced them. Accordingto the municipality o Tripoli, almost 80% o residents in the old city are tenants and have been living there or at least 30 years.
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Many o the historic buildings and landmarks in cities are let or
degeneration or are destroyed to allow or the construction o new higherbuildings, picture rom Bashoura on the borders o Beirut Down Town.
Box 3:
Patterns of Urban Expansion inLebanon
Cities in Lebanon are growing both horizontallyand vertically. For example developers are erecting
buildings in vacant plots (often used as paid parking
areas) or in lieu of old buildings which are torn down
and replaced with new housing units. Meanwhile,
cities are also expanding horizontally; in Lebanon,
this urban expansion could be categorized into three
forms: circular, linear and leap-frog. Circular (or
concentric) expansion is very visible around major
cities and towns including Beirut, Baalbeck, Zahle,
Marjayoun. Linear expansion (or ribbon construction)
occurs when towns and villages expand along major
roads, creating long rows of residential housingunits and commercial centres on both sides of a
road. Noteworthy examples include the coastal
highway (from Beirut to Jounieh and from Beirut to
Sarafand) and selected inland regions (from Tripoli
to Halba and from Zaharni to Nabateyeh). Leap-frog
development occurs when developers build new
residences some distance from an existing urban
area, bypassing vacant parcels located closer to the
city. Examples include Mechref Village (Mechref),
Pine Park (Roumieh) and Beit Misk (Bhersaf).
Horizontal growth is happening at the expense
of agricultural elds (e.g. al Basatine in Tripoli),forested areas (e.g. Metn) and other natural areas
of unique environmental signicance (Faytroun in
Kessrouan and Fnaideq in Akkar).
Source: MOE, 2010.
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1964 and was mistakenly4 named the Second
Ecochard Plan (Ghorayeb, 1998). What diers
between both endeavors, that were neverully implemented, is that the latter shited the
ocus rom Municipal Beirut to include Greater
Beirut and provided an opportunity or public
and private sectors to jointly work on the plan.
However, the ailure in ormulating an urban
policy and strategy was attributed to pressures
exerted rom private developers who wanted
and succeeded in having ewer restrictions
and more room or exploitation (Salam, 1998).
Ater the end o the civil war in 1990,
the Government concentrated its post-
war recovery and reconstruction eorts
on physical inrastructure and large-scale
projects rather than on socio-economic
recovery and development. Two national plans
were developed or this end, the National
Emergency Reconstruction Plan (NERP) and the
Plan Horizon 2000, managed by the Council
o Development and Reconstruction (CDR)5.
A large component o Plan Horizon 2000was embodied in the urban regeneration o
Beiruts central district through a privately set
company known with the acronym Solidere,
developed by ormer PM Rak Hariri. The
company succeeded in rebuilding a state o
the art business district but was marred with
a number o criticisms. Solideres work was
embodied in the supremacy it oered to the
globalized private sector to control urban
spaces and contribute to the modernization
o the largely historical area o Beirut (Larkin,2009). The alarming and supreme domination
o the private sector was accompanied by
an exclusion o the previous owners. Other
critiques o Beiruts urban reconstruction build
on the neo-liberal assumption and describe
the continuous erosion o public space and the
amnesiac erasure o the citys confictual recent
history (Ibid). All o the previously mentioned
elements contributed to designing a heart
o the city o Beirut that is solely catered ormiddle to high and high income brackets.
Historically, the Lebanese State demonstratesa laissez-aire approach in the urban domain
and its intervention in the urban sector was,
and continues to be, minimal. Except or land
regulation, investments in inrastructure and
ormulation o building codes, the State has
shied away rom developing a comprehensive
urban policy that regulates the erratic growth
o urban areas in Lebanon.
Aside rom the rst proposals submitted during
the French Mandate in 19323 , the State has
been less successul in the attempts to create
a ramework or urban policy especially or
major cities such as Beirut and Tripoli. The rst
attempt that tackled the growth o Beirut was
drated in 1943 and became known as the
First Ecochard Plan named ater the leading
French architect and urban planner Michel
Ecochard. This plan aimed at incorporating
modern planning as the main approach to
revitalize the city, and aspired at placing theState as well as municipalities as the primary
decision-makers. The second attempt was in
1.5 URBAN POLICIES
3 It was the frst serious attempt to produce an
urban master plan and was prepared by Danger in1932. Though never implemented, the Danger planasserted the three major axes o circulation as axeso expansion o the growing city: Beirut-Tripoli to
the North, Beirut-Sidon to the South and Beirut-Damascus to the East.
4 Ecochard participated at frst in the development
o the 1964 plan; however he let when the plantook a trail that he disapproved.
5 The NERP and the Plan Horizon 2000,complemented later by Plan Horizon 2005,
presented multi-sector programs that included more
than 100 projects, some o which still on-going, tobe essentially fnanced by oreign and internal loans.
Another aspect o the plans was the privatization
o major industries; numerous contracts wereawarded in important industries such as energy,telecommunications, electricity, airports and roads.The last and perhaps most signifcant aspect o Plan
Horizon 2000 was economic stimulus via oreigndirect investment (CDR, 1992).
A recent attempt to provide policy directions
that respond to the challenges o a highly
urbanized context is the 2005 NationalPhysical Master Plan or the Lebanese
Territory (NPMPLT) prepared by CDR. The Plan
addresses the management o land use and
aims at promoting unity, equitable regional
development, sustainable use o resources,
economic productivity, social development,
environmental protection, and heritage
conservation. It highlights the need to develop
planning protection in the regions (80-90%
o the territory) and adequate policies to
ensure uture housing developments that
are appropriately integrated into the existing
urban abric. In addition, it presents a number
o urban programs, including a coordinated
program o inrastructure development in
areas that are being rapidly absorbed by
Beiruts southern urban spread (CDR, 2005).
For an illustration o the urban organization
proposed by the NPMPLT, see Figure 5. In
2009, a decree was issued that allocated the
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Figure 5: Urban Structure Principle Proposed by the NPMPLTSource: CDR, 2005
National Physical Master Plan or the Lebanese
Territory as a general guiding ramework to
urban planning and land use in Lebanon tobe abided by all actors involved in planning
including governmental institutions and public
agencies. It should be mentioned however
that the Master Plan only provides guidelines
and recommendations that still need to be
reinorced by means o mandatory laws and
relevant policies and regulations.
Another relevant attempt with an impact on
cities and its people lies in the ormulation o
the National Social Development Strategy6
in 2007 (published in 2011), which aims at
improving the social welare o the Lebanese
population through improving social
saety nets. It aspires at enhancing living
environments in concentrated urbanized areas
and promoting home ownership among low-
income amilies through the extension o credit
acilities and other tools within the private
sector. In addition to environmental protection
and heritage conservation, the strategy aimsat promoting public parks, libraries, sports
acilities and transport networks. It also aims at
protecting rights through enhanced legislation
and at ostering public utilization o unused
lands through changing building codes. It
intends to ormulate a housing policy directed
by the Ministry o Social Aairs (MOSA) to
enable it to see the distribution o housing
loans in a more regionally equitable ashion.
Further to that, in order to upgrade the living
standards in urban slums, the plan ocuseson extending basic services such as water
6 The National Social Development Strategy wasdrated as part o the Social Action Plan Frameworkdeveloped by the Government o Lebanon in 2007.
The plan recognizes the need to integrate socialdevelopment in a strategic and inclusive mannerwithin development projects to improve socialindicators.
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Urban development at the expense o natural and mountainous areas, such as the case o al Matn in Mount Lebanon.
Urban development on agricultural lands, such as the case o Saida.
7The Strategy was presented during a workshoporganized by the Ministry o Social Aairs and UNDP
in September 2010. During the ollowing months,the internal political situation started to deteriorateand reached its climax with the collapse o the
government interrupting all ministries related plans.
and sanitation and improving the physical
conditions o existing buildings. Finally, the
strategy looks at reviewing building restrictions
in Palestinian camps, providing inrastructure,
clariying ownership ambiguities within them
and reorming current legislative barriers
to Palestinian ownership (UNDP, 2009).
Although the National Development Strategy
represented a rst comprehensive attemptto address social policies in Lebanon, it has
not yet been endorsed by the Council o
Ministers.7
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Key players in urban planning:The above has shown how the State
policies towards urban planning and urbandevelopment have been minimalistic. Still,there are a number o key players in urbanplanning and development in Lebanon thatwork within the previously mentioned policyrameworks. The Directorate General oUrbanism (DGU), established in 1959, wascreated as part o the Ministry o Public Worksand Transport and was commissioned todrat a Master Plan or urban and regionaldevelopment. The plan has succeeded in
developing several localized plans in the areao land use and management to account orthe large growth o urban areas; however,ailed to address the national urban challengesthat kept arising along with the unregulatedurban sprawl. The DGU prepares and reviewsmaster plans all over Lebanon except inBeirut and Tripoli and the three unions omunicipalities (Jbeil, Kesrouan and Metn)that have urban planning / engineering units.In general, a signicant number o regional
master plans are prepared by architectsor engineers who do not necessarily haveprior experience or competencies in urbanplanning (MOE, 2010). These master plansare presented, only once nalized, tomunicipalities or approval or negotiation.Although municipalities are supposed to playa key role in developing and implementingurban projects, they all short in terms o theirnancial and human resources which impedetheir roles as basic-level administrations.
Furthermore, many towns in Lebanon haveno municipal council and thereore resort tothe Kaemakam or administrative issues andthe regional department o urban planningor urban planning issues (Ibid). Urbanmaster plans covered only 16.2% o theLebanese territory in 2004, most o whichwere concentrated along the coast, with theremaining areas let as unplanned or evennon-surveyed (see Box 4).
Other institutions working at the central/governmental level are the Higher Council
or Urban Planning (HCUP) and the Councilor Development and Reconstruction
(CDR). The HCUP includes representativesrom several ministries as well as specialistsin urbanization, and is responsible oradvancing recommendations that guide urbanplanning at national level. As or the CDR,it was ounded in 1977 to take charge oreconstruction and rehabilitation projects. Itwas assigned the task o developing a NationalPhysical Master Plan or the Lebanese Territoryto regulate urban growth. For a summary othe key actors involved in urban planning and
land management in Lebanon, reer to Table 4below.
Whilst a considerable body o institutions areavailable to come up with and implement smalland large scale urban projects, several obstaclesare aced such as:
theabsenceofoverarchingguidingpolicies;
apersistentlycentralizedandconventionalapproach to planning;
limitednancialresourcesandweakgovernance and institutional capacities;
highrelianceoncontractedarchitectsand
engineers to carry out planning leavinglittle or no room or local stakeholders to
participate in planning and implementation.
The centralized control o planning with itstop-bottom approach and the marginalizationo the municipalities have not only lead tothe non-realization o these plans but havealso drastically limited the opportunities orplanners to get involved in the public sector.According to the MOE (2010), urban plansin Lebanon ocus exclusively on the physicalplanning and do not approach urban planning
rom a strategic perspective or adequatelyaddress urban issues such as sustainability,livability, accessibility and environmental,spatial and equity issues. In addition, theurban planning system is not immune topolitical intererence and contestations andis oten geared towards maximizing land usecoecients. As a result, master plans usuallydeal with plans and zoning only rom theperspective o permissible built-up areas andtotal allowable height with little regard to
other vital components (such as position obuilding in lots and distribution o land usesand activities) (Ibid).
Table 4: Distribution of Responsibilities Related to Land Management in Lebanon
National landuse master planning
Protected areas management
Forest management
Urban planning regulations
Public maritime domain(coastal zone)
Protection o cultural heritage
Protection o riversand waterways
Management oreligious estates
Quarry sector
Responsibility / Party
x
x
x
x
xx
x
x
xx
x
x
x x
x
x
x
MOPWT(DGU)
MOE MOA MOC(DGA)
MOEW MOIM CDR ReligiousOrders
Source: MOE, 2010
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Urban development around major historic sites and heritageareas, such as the case o the old city and the Citadel in Tripoli.
Box 4:
Areas Covered by Master Plansin Lebanon
In 2000, urban master plans covered 10.3
percent of the Lebanese territory (CERMOC, 2000
in SOER, 2001). Subsequent analysis showed that
this extent only covered urban master plans thathave been both approved by the Higher Council
of urban Planning (HCUP) and decreed by the
Council of Ministers (COM), and issued during the
period 1960 2000. A study conducted in 2004
identied additional urban master plans that were
approved by the HCUP but not yet decreed by
the COM. They cover 614.3 km. Therefore the
total zoning extent in Lebanon until 2004 covered
about 16.2 percent of the territory or 1,693
km. The remaining area (83.8%) is unplanned
) and only partially surveyed )
). Urban master plans are primarily )concentrated along the coastal zone and large
agglomerations. Unplanned areas are administered
and managed by blanket regulations that rely
mainly on two factors: lot coverage and oor-
area-ratio. Areas that have not been surveyed
or demarcated account for about 50 percent of
the country (30% demarcated but not surveyed
and 20% neither demarcataed nor surveyed
and still under TABO transaction log used by the
Ottomans); these rely on very approximate maps
most of which were drawn many decades ago
based on aerial photos and with a high margin oferror.
Source: MOE, 2010.
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Tyr or Sour has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. Threats to Tyrs ancient cultural heritage includedevelopment pressures ollowed by the illegal antiquities trade. Illegal constructions in the vicinity o the archeological sites
in Tyr have not stopped since the years o the civil war, most recently occurring in 2011 as shown with some new buildingswithin the archeological site in the picture
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2CHAPTER
2CHAPTER
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Since the end o the Lebanese Civil War in 1990, the port o Beirut has gone
through a major restoration and expansion program with the rehabilitation oexisting port acilities, the construction o new administration buildings and a
new container terminal. The Port has been selected as a transshipment hub orthe 2nd and 3rd largest container shipping companies in the world.
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THE GROWING
ECONOMIC ROLE
OF CITIESI . SERVICE ECONOMY
II. INFORMAL ECONOMY
III. REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
30
The Growing Economic Role O Cities
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Figure 6: Economic Development Principles Proposed by the NPMPLTSource: CDR, 2005
Ongoing political instability since theassassination o the ormer Prime MinisterRak Hariri in 2005 and the Israelis attack in2006 has been a major barrier to the countryseconomic development. In 2006, ater apromising start and a predicted GDP growtho 6% or the year, no real GDP growth wasrecorded largely as a result o the Israeli attackon Lebanon and the devastating impacts ithad on the national economic welare (UNDP,2008). Currently, Lebanon has one o thehighest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world. Net
public debt was $29.5 billion in 2002 (158%o GDP) and $39 billion in 2007. Debt servicepayments came to 16% in 2002 and 13.2%in 2007. Lebanon also suers rom a chronictrade decit (around $9 billion in 2007,approximately 34% o Lebanons GDP). Theexport-to-import ratio was 23.8% in 2007.This naturally impacts on the countrys balanceo payments (Ibid). In order to enhance theeconomic role o cities, the National PhysicalMaster Plan or the Lebanese Territory
proposed an arrangement o economicactivities shown in Figure 6. However suchproposal still needs reinorcing laws, policiesand projects.
Lebanons economy is signicantly a liberalizedeconomy that relies heavily on the privatesector and is geared towards the serviceeconomy. Lebanon has been committed toadditional treaties with Arab and Europeancountries mostly to benet its private sector,
in particular the agricultural, industrial andservices sectors (Ibid).
In Lebanon, the urban economy is dominatedby the service sector where most o thecountrys working orce is employed (41.6%),ollowed by trade (22.6%), industry (13.8%),and agriculture (7.2%). Beirut in particular,which comprises one third o the total
population in Lebanon, contributes to roughly
2. THE GROWING ECONOMIC ROLE OF CITIES
2.1 SERVICE ECONOMY
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In a context o a liberal service economy, real estate development andconstruction in cities attract the highest investments in Lebanon.
31The Growing Economic Role O Cities
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The Growing Economic Role O Cities
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The historic souqs o Tripoli, maintained mostly by individualand private initiatives rom shop owners.
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Figure 7: Most Visited Tourist Sites in LebanonSource: CAS, 2008
8 Source: http://www.lebanonembassyus.org/country_lebanon/economy.html
75% o the total country economy (WorldBank, 2008). The service sector takes a
signicant share in the capital city, embracing52.4% o the working orce. Commerceand tourism are two o the most importantsubsectors, with the ormer owing its successto Beirut Port, considered as the oremosttrading point in the Eastern Mediterraneanregion.
Most o the Lebanese hotels, restaurants,and resorts are located on the sea shore andin the highly dense urbanized areas such as
Beirut, Jounieh, and Tyre, directly contributingto modeling the current urban economy (seeFigure 7). Tourism is an asset that Lebanoncan rely on to increase its competitiveness inthe international market. Lebanon holds aprivileged geographical location and a strategicposition in the Mediterranean Sea, whichconers it a suitable climate or tourism at allour seasons. Tourism constitutes around 20%o the countrys GDP; however, it is boundedto the national political and security situation
and is very vulnerable to regional politics andconficts. In 2011, the instability in Lebanonand the region have caused severe and promptimpact on all tourism activities shown in thedrop o tourists visiting Lebanon, which directlyaects the countrys economy.
The nancial services constitute anotherbranch o the service sectors, notably withreerence to insurance, commercial andinvestment banking8 . The Lebanese banking
sector witnessed a notable growth in the post-war period, whereby total deposits increasedby 27.4 billion USD rom 1992 till 1999.Also, the banking system opens up the gateor capital infow mainly rom the Arab Gulcountries which directly contributes to nationaldevelopment.
33The Growing Economic Role O Cities
34
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In addition to residential buildings and projects, most o the Lebanese hotels, restaurants and resorts arelocated in highly urbanized areas along the sea shore.
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9 Gross National Product (GNP) is the market valueo all products and services produced in one year
by labor and property supplied by the residents oa country. Unlike Gross Domestic Product (GDP),which defnes production based on the geographical
location o production, GNP allocates productionbased on ownership.
Street vendors in the historic core o Tripoli.
In addition to having a service-based economy,cities in Lebanon have a sizeable inormal
economy. In the post-war period, the size
o the inormal economy in Lebanon was
estimated at 34.1% o the total GNP9 or
the year 1999/2000, ranking 7th in Asia
(Schneider, 2002). The current situation in
Lebanon that uels the creation o a chaotic
socio-economic environment is oreseen to
sustain the occurrence and signicance o the
inormal economy, which continues to make
a major contribution to the national GDP(Rossis, 2010). Inormal economy includes all
economic activities and jobs that are outside
the realm o state regulation (licensing,
taxing, etc. do not apply) in addition to illegal
activities (smuggling, drugs, tracking etc).
In Lebanon, inormal economic activities are
mainly refected in inormal employment and
in the commerce sector that do not abide by
licensing and paying taxes (Ibid).
The roots o the inormal economy inLebanon could be traced back to the last
century, where the long ermentations o
Lebanons past ormulated and cemented
the ingredients o the potentially embedded
inormality in the country, which not only
aects the market and the economy but
also the civic system and society as a whole
(Denoeux 1993, Rossis, 2010). According to
the study conducted by Rossis (2010) on the
benets and dangers o inormal economyin Lebanon, one contributing actor to this
economy is the bureaucratic environment as
2.2 INFORMAL ECONOMY
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Inormal fshing activities in Dora.
As part o its the Cultural Heritage and Urban Development (CHUD) Project, the Government o
Lebanon undertook an initiative to relocate the inormal vegetable market in the historic city oTripoli, including some street vendors, to a platorm covering River Abu Ali Channel.
shaped by the governmental organization
and course o action and the decit o civil
attention (attributed to the public institutionsthat serve the population). Another actor
relates to the deeply entrenched inormal
practices into the mindset o the Lebanese
society, where by the majority o the Lebanese
society, even i it demonstrates considerable
disapproval towards the undesirable products
o inormality, acknowledges that the patterns
in the social organization are rather unlikely to
change i current political and economic trends
continue; as a result, people are increasingly
obliged to resort to the inormal economy(Ibid).
The rapid urbanization that occurred in
the 50s, 60s and 70s had promoted the
multiplication o inormal associations
and networks in Lebanon, which played a
stabilizing role in sustaining the operation
o the inormal economy (Denoeux, 1993).
More recently, inormal economic activity
was attributed to corruption, as this involves
massive economic transactions on a dailybasis with an enormous impact at both
microeconomic and macroeconomic levels, and
also to the continuous presence o inormal
networks that acilitate illegal activities as well
(Rossis, 2010).
The high rate o unemployment is a main
driving orce that stimulates the oversupply
o workers into the inormal economy (see
Figure 8). In addition, most o the Lebanese
small entrepreneurs are driven by economicand social barriers that make it avorable and
even compulsory or them to rely on inormal
economy. For instance, no incentives are
properly put in place to motivate registering
establishments and paving the way to the
more ormalized type o economy. This is
urther accentuated by the high tax rates and
the absence o tax breaks relative to small
businesses. Consequently, entrepreneurs rely
on inormal mechanisms in order to maximizetheir prots.
37The Growing Economic Role O Cities
38
The Growing Economic Role O Cities
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Figure 8 :Unemployment for Men and Women by Age
Source: CAS, 2007
Real estate development, and in particularproperty construction, has been mostly seenthrough the lens o a neoliberal ideology,with the private sector and market orcesplaying the central role in designing the urbancondition. According to the MOE (2010),demand or property grew exponentiallyin the last decade and Lebanon witnessedrecord investments in its real estate sector andconstruction rom nationals, expatriates andoreigners, who eared the global nancialinstability. Foreign investment is drivenby the limited restrictions imposed by the
Government and the system o taxation thatdoes not enorce higher taxes on oreignersinvesting in Lebanon. Although the recentchanges and revolutions taking place in theArab Countries have brought real estateinvestment and prices slightly down, themarket is still guaranteed to make high prots.
Investment in the construction and real estatesectors is concentrated mostly in MountLebanon (along the coast) and in Beirut (see
Figure 9 and Figure 10) (Lowry, 2010). Thetotal surace area o construction permits
issued in Lebanon between 2007 and 2008leaped rom 7.9 million to 14.2 millionm; in Mount Lebanon alone, the area oconstruction permits almost doubled rom 4.3million to 8.4 million m (MOE, 2010). A recentgure suggests that around 11.5 million mare still reserved or construction in additionto 5,376 buildings being under construction,compared to 2,931 buildings in 2007 (Lynch,2010; Qiblawi, 2010). Furthermore, the
Banque du Liban statistics conrms suchincrease in construction seen in cementdeliveries continuously increasing on yearlybasis since 2006.
However, in the absence o urban policies andregulations to guide large scale constructions,
Lebanons redevelopment has been criticizedas being volatile. The consequences haveembraced grievous implications on Lebanonsphysical and natural environment andits inrastructure both o which have adetrimental eect on the populations qualityo lie (Frommherz-Hassib, 2010). Accordingto the MOE (2010), Lebanon is too smallto sustain the current constructions (roads,housing, commercial development, and seareclamation projects) on the medium to long
term without causing irreversible damage to itsnatural resources and landscapes. Noteworthy
2.3 REAL ESTATE ANDCONSTRUCTION
Illegal constructions built in 2011 around archeologicalsites and landmarks in Tyr
Constructions along the sea ront in Ain el Mraisseh
Old and new constructions along the bank o Abu AliRiver in Tripoli
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Figure 10: Construction Permits by Area per Mohafazat
Source: CAS, 2008
is the impact these constructions entailed on the historical and culturallandscape o cities such as Beirut and Tripoli, where massive destructionsirreversibly demolished a cultural heritage, that is now lost in modernarchitecture (Fielding-Smith, 2010). Given its drastic immersion inconstruction activities, Lebanon lies at the hub o an urban sprawlcrisis that deserves careul analysis and monitoring on the part o keystakeholders.
Figure 9 :Cement Deliveries (First nine months or each year - in 1,000s o tons)
Source: Banque du Liban, 2010
Architectural heritage buildings and landmarks o Beirut are
overshadowed, even replaced, by high rise buildings andtowers. In the Down Town area, the construction o new gated
residential communities is taking place including three thatcomprise 185 apartments in Wadi Abu Jmil alone.
39The Growing Economic Role O Cities
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Current laws and regulations related to urban planning (and those related to water, orests, protected environment) do notprotect mountains or recognize their value as a system, threatening heritage, landscape, biodiversity and water sources. In rangelands in Lebanon, the main driving orce to habitat loss or change is urbanization. The urban expansion on the mountains isevidence rom the Northern entrance to Beirut, as shown in the picture.
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3CHAPTER
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Houses added to existing historic buildings in Tripoli
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URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
AND HOUSING
CONDITIONSI. THE HOUSING SECTOR
II. INFORMAL URBAN AREAS
44
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The old city o Tripoli suers mainly rom physical degradation,
inadequate sanitation and solid waste collection, and environmental andacoustic pollution. The residents themselves, most o whom are lowerincome populations, cannot aord to link their residences to the main
sewage lines or to improve their housing conditions
The reconstruction activities in the atermatho the civil war have stabilized the countryseconomy through upgrading the inrastructureand attracting investments rom nationalsand oreigners, mainly Arab citizens. Mosto the investments geared towards urbandevelopment occur in the orm o largescale developments; or instance aroundty percent o total Arab oreign directinvestment in Lebanon targeted large propertydevelopments in 2007/2008 (ESCWA, 2008).To give some examples on the size o such
properties, land holdings by Gul CooperationCouncil (GCC) investors in Lebanon totaled 0.5million m in 2002 and 2 million m in 2005(BLOM Investment Bank, 2010). The overallincrease in the number o buildings in Lebanonwas estimated at 4.03 percent or the periodspanning 1996 to 2004 (MOE, 2010).
3. URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING CONDITIONSHowever, the internal upheavals and theunstable political situation veiling the countrysince 2005, have worsened the physical,social, and economic abrics, contributingto widening the gap between the rich andthe poor, between rural and urban areas andwithin given areas as well. Urban poverty andits causes have not been extensively studiedin Lebanon; one can rather nd abundantinormation on overall poverty in countryreports and national studies conducted by UNagencies, ministries, and other internationalgovernmental and non-governmentalorganizations. A notable change in povertyindicators was noted between 1995 and 2004with a decrease in both the households livingin extreme poverty (rom 7% till 5%) andthose living in relative poverty (rom 28% till
18%) (MOSA and UNDP, 2004). This decreaseis primarily related to an improvement in thesectors o housing, water and sewerage, andeducation. Income, however, scored a notabledeterioration, paralleled with the increase inunemployment10 and the decrease in thepurchasing power (Ibid). Most poor urbanpockets are located in the vicinities o majorcities in the suburbs o Beirut, Tripoli andSaida, all o which housing the highest numbero the Lebanese poor.
10 Unemployment among the 15-64 age category is put at
9.2% out o which 47% belong to the 20-29 age category
(CAS, 2007).
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3.1 THE HOUSING SECTORThe housing market has undergonesubstantial changes along the urbanizationprocess and mostly driven by an increasein housing demands especially post thecivil war that ended in 1990. Accordingto the MOE (2010), the overall increase inthe number o residential units in Lebanonrom 1996 to 2004 was estimated at 4.03percent. Subsequent to the rural-urbanmigration and the fow o migrants andoreign workers who settled in the outskirts
o large agglomerations and due to the infuxo oreign investment, real estate priceshave skyrocketed in and around Lebanese
cities. Although this has created increaseddemand on housing, it also made owninga residence in urban areas very problematicespecially to low and middle-income amilies.This comes in an environment where socialhousing and governmental policies towardshousing the low income amilies have beenminimalistic. The governmental policy has soar been limited to regulating the provisiono housing loans to low-middle incomeamilies. There are currently two main publicinstitutions that oer housing acilities: theNational Institute or Housing (NIH) and the
Directorate General o Cooperatives (DGC).The ormer oers housing loans to amilieso low socio-economic statuses, provided
that applicants have a stable job with a xedincome. This poses a major challenge to thelow-waged and low-skilled labor orce, asthey do not meet the terms and conditions othe NIH. The DGC on the other hand, aims atorming housing cooperatives to improve thehousing conditions o low-income categories.Nevertheless, housing cooperatives have soar ailed to become major players in thesocial housing sector due to some challengespertaining to the lack o technical expertiseas well as a shortage in human and nancialresources.
45Urban DevelopmentAnd Hous ing Condit ions
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New residential areas in Saida have expanded around the historic core and market o the city.Today and under the current real estate and housing market, smaller apartments between 100and 250m are the most selling, as in the case o the rest o the major cities in Lebanon, and oran average price o USD 500,000 to USD 800,000.
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With the ownership o decent shelter/housebecoming exceptionally challenging to thelow and middle-income amilies, renting has
become the main method or securing housing(Fawaz and Peillen, 2003). Additionally,ollowing the end o the civil war, many
original owners in the declining war-aectedareas o Beirut and its suburbs opted to rentout their properties instead o returning to their
ormer homes oten to migrant workers (Ibid).This phenomenon continues to take place in theinormal areas around the cities such as BeirutSouthern Suburb, Jnah, Dora, etc.
Poor housing conditions in Tripoli
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With an increased pressure on housingmarkets in cities and urban areas, inormalsettlements become the only aordablealternative to the low income amilies. Theseunderserved urban areas have expanded sincethe arrival o rural migrants in the 50s andthe internally displaced during the civil war(1975-1990). Inormal settlements have otendeveloped at the cities ringes especially inBeirut and Tripoli, generally in violation to
construction codes and planning regulations,which resulted in poorly constructedneighborhoods and slum-like areas. UN-HABITAT estimates that the slum to urbanpopulation in Lebanon was around 50% inthe year 2001 (UN-HABITAT, 2010). For anoverview o slums in Beirut, reer to Box 5.
Urban underserved areas in and around maincities have multiaceted traits, accomodationgor people o various religions (i.e. Christian
and Muslims in Beirut suburbs), nationalitiesand ethnicities. These areas house, in addition
3.2 INFORMAL URBAN
AREAS
to Lebanese, Palestinian reugees and migrant
workers coming rom Egypt, Syria, Sri Lanka,Iraq, Sudan and others, who mostly live insmall unt houses. Environmental and housingconditions are generally precarious and highlyvariable; some structures are temporary, othersare permanent buildings (Fawaz, and Peillen,2003). Most o the residents in these areassuer rom low quality housing including ahigh level o humidity, inadequate access tobasic urban services and inrastructure, lack ohousing aeration, in addition to an absence
o natural lighting. Most o the buildingsare old structures usually let without anymaintenance and repair11.
With the limited urban service provisionby the State and in many instances by themunicipalities, dwellers in the under-servedurban areas have managed over time todevelop sel-sustaining mechanisms thatpermit them to access basic urban services.Many use inormal ways to hook to theelectricity network, sewage system or to accesswater.
11 Inormation on urban slums was drawn rom a number
o case studies mostly conducted in the outskirts o
Beirut. These studies can be obtained rom the ollowing
reerences:
- Choueiry, N. and Khawaja, M. (2007). Displacement
and Health Status in Low Income Women: Findings rom
a Population-Based Study in Greater Beirut. Journal o
Immigrant and Reugee Studies Issue, 3:1, 1-13.
- Habib, R.R. Mahoud, Z. Fawaz, M. Basma, S.H. and
Yeretzian, J.S. (2008). Housing Quality and Ill Health in
a Disadvantaged Urban Community. Journal o Public
Health, 123, 174-181.
- Habib, R.R. Yassin, N. Ghanawy, J. Haddad, P. andMahoud, Z. (2010). Double Jeopardy: Assessing
the Association between Internal Displacement,
Housing Quality and Chronic Illness in a Low-Income
Neighborhood, Journal o Public Health, 1-12.
- Makhoul, J. Abi Ghanem, D. and Ghanem, M. (2003).
An Ethnographic Study o the Consequences o Social
and Structural Forces on Children: the Case o two Low-
Income Beirut Suburbs. Environment and Urbanization,
15: 2, 249, 260.
- Nuwayhid, I A, Usta, J, Makarem, M, Khudr, A and
El-Zein, A. 2005. Health o Children Working in Small
Urban Industrial Shops, Occupational and Environmental
Medicine; 62:8694.
The inormal neighborhood o Hay el Tanak in
Mina in the North lacks roads, access to waterand sanitation and adequate housing. The land,once public, was recently sold to a private owner
and residents were sentenced by court to leavetheir houses although they still live there.
Two housing projects developed by the Maroniteand the Antoninian endowments (awka) to belong leased, mainly to their constituencies.
The Kobbeh housing project built by theMinistry o Displaced in the 1990s to house
war- displaced amilies in Tripoli.
49Urban DevelopmentAnd Hous ing Condit ions
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In the midst o these challenges pertainingto the urban setting, some groups o people
nd themselves more prone to internal andexternal shocks; those are the most vulnerablecategories. They include the unemployed,those who cannot aord sustaining a stablemonthly income to meet their basic andnon-basic supplies; the displaced who losetheir main source o income once they moverom their initial areas o residence (i.e.inormal slum dwellers); the elderly and thedisabled who dont have any orm o incomegeneration activity or dedicated policies, in
addition to the youth who drop out romschools to join the labor orce and help theiramilies increase their monthly revenues.Palestinian reugees also represent a vulnerablecategory o people, given the laws in practice(which ban them rom working in most jobsand rom owning properties or ormingorganizations) and to the scarcity o resourcesthat are mirrored in the low-quality o livingconditions. Around 53 percent o thesereugees live in the 12 ocial camps servicedby UNRWA in Lebanon and a total o 42inormal areas known as gatherings (UNRWA,2005) most o which distributed around majorcities in Lebanon (see Box 6).
The reliance on social and political networksrepresents one o the ways low-incomedwellers in particular resort to, in orderto access elementary services that meettheir basic needs o survival. For instance,amilies with low income rely on their kinsor social and nancial support and use theirconnections to nd cheap and appropriatehousing. Similarly, the urban poor solicitsupport rom political parties, whom, in the
As part o the Karm al-Zaytun embellishment project, initiated by theHelp Lebanon NGO in 1997, the local community o Karm al-Zaytuncontributed to upgrading street acades o their houses with the help o
proessional workers, volunteer artists and architects.
- World Vision (2006). For Establishing an Area
Development Programme in Ain el Remmaneh and its
surrounding areas. Area Assessment Report.
- Yassin, N. Riai, D. and Maani, M. (2006). Local Situational
Analysis, Issues and Possible Interventions. World Vision,1-125.
Box 5:
Slums of Beirut
According to Fawaz and Peillen (2003), there
exist 24 slums* in the metropolitan urban area
of Beirut, which house some 300,000 dwellers,
compromising over 20% of the population of
Greater Beirut Area. Slum dwellers in Beirut
could be divided along four main groups
(although they do not constitute all those living
in poverty in Beirut); these groups include:
Rural migrants who came to the city since
1950s seeking work and whose economic
conditions did not improve.
Other Lebanese population displaced in differentwaves due to the various military conicts
between 1975 and 1990. The largest, in 1976
during the civil war, included the evacuation of
most slum dwellers living in the Eastern section
of the city (controlled by opposing Christian
militia) to the Western parts.
International refugee groups of whom
Palestinian refugees and Kurdish communities
are still living in slums in precarious conditions.
Intentional labour, notably Arab (Syrian and
Egyptian) male workers and Asian and African
(Sri-Lanki, Ethiopian and Filipino) maids.*Dened as areas of the city where the majority
of residents live in precarious economic and/
or political conditions, with high levels of
vulnerability, and where services and living
conditions appear to be lower than other
section so of the city.
Source: Fawaz and Peillen, 2003
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absence o governmental social and welaresupport, harbor their constituents by providingthem with the adequate and necessary social
services. Although political parties oer arelatively sustainable means o securing accessto services (such as health, education, monetaryassistance, water), such practices outline thesectarian boundaries that exist in these highlyvolatile areas, highlighting the gaps in thedistribution o benets among those with andwithout political and religious aliations.
Policies Towards Informal Settlements:
The State has shied away rom ormulatingpolicies to address inormal settlementsand their dwellers in Lebanon. Accordingto Fawaz and Peillen (2003), laissez-airehas been the rule, although punctuated byviolent incidents o eviction mainly to makeroom or large inrastructure projects such ashighways. There was one notable attempt toupgrade the coastal area in Southern Beirut,but which came about to be less successul.The project that was named Elyssar was
initiated in 1996 to upgrade and developthe coastal areas o the Southern suburbs oBeirut targeting around 120,000 to 130,000residents o which 80,000 were estimated to beresiding in illegally built houses (Harb, 2011).The public agency, established to lead thisproject, primarily aimed at creating economicdevelopment opportunities and improvingthe inrastructure o the area while providingaordable housing units or dwellers in place.However, the project was hindered by strong
conficting views between the major politicalactors: the Hezbollah-Amal versus ormer PMRak Hariri. The latter viewed the project withinthe perspective o a neoliberal rational planningapproach where the private sector can play amajor role in regeneration while the ormerperceived the project as a public interventionto improve social conditions o the residentsand as such an opportunity to strengthen theirpatronage o their constituency (Harb, 2001).Eventually, these dierences that were and are
still embedded in the contested political contextin Lebanon have prevented the implementationo the project to date.
Box 6:
The Case of Palestinian InformalGatherings
A particular case of informal settlements in Lebanon is thatof Palestinian Gatherings or simply gatherings. The denitionof a gathering was rst introduced by Fafo (2003) to indicate
locations outside the camps that accommodate groups ofPalestinian refugees. Other studies identied the presenceof 42 gatherings in Lebanon that accommodate for around63,000 Palestinian refugees (DRC, 2005; PU/NRC, 2009).Twelve of these gatherings are located directly around theboundaries of ofcial camps as informal extensions; thesegatherings, known as the Adjacent Areas of PalestinianRefugee Camps, accommodate for around 30,000 35,000
refugees (UNDP&UN-HABITAT, 2010). Gatherings weredeveloped around the major cities in Lebanon in Tyr, Saida,North Lebanon, Bekaa and Mount Lebanon in descendingorder of their number.
A number of issues characterize living conditions in thegatherings in Lebanon, which were reported by Fafo (2005)to be the worst for Palestinian refugees living in the MiddleEastern hosting countries. Some gatherings were built inthe late 40s and early 50s with the arrival of the groups ofdisplaced refugees from Palestine. Most of the gatheringsthough were developed later during the 70s and the 80s asa substitute for the overcrowded camps or in an attempt tond safer refuge during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990).The majority of gatherings were illegally built on publicor private lands; however some cases exist where by thePalestinian refugees purchased lands or houses but mostlyfailed to ofcially register their properties*. In addition toinsecure tenure, dwellers of the gatherings face limitationson rehabilitating or upgrading their houses; even when suchprojects are undertaken by NGOs, they are banned fromreplacing the zinc roofs with concrete roofs for example.In addition, gatherings witness a huge gap in the provisionof basic urban services, (mainly in the sectors of water,sewerage, solid waste collection and road networks). Being
informal areas that are inhabited by Palestinian refugees,gatherings are usually not included within the municipalservice provision. While UNRWA is mandated to providebasic urban services only within the boundaries of the 12ofcial camps, dwellers in the gatherings are left to relyon informal mechanisms and self-help initiatives that allowtheir access to alternative basic urban services. In general,these mechanisms, implemented in ad-hoc manner within alimited budget, are characterized by being insufcient andunsustainable and unable to respond to dwellers needs. Thiscontributes to further worsening refugees living conditions inthe gatherings and expands the problems and environmentalimpacts to the surrounding areas.
* In 2001, a law was issued that prevented Palestinian refugees from
owning properties in Lebanon.
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4CHAPTER
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The Saida waste dump, located on the searont 200m rom nearby residential
and commercial units, received 150 tons o solid waste per day rom 15municipalities in 2010. A new plan aims at replacing it with a (privately owned
and operated) controlled dump and solid waste treatment acility.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
URBAN CHALLENGES
I. WATER DEMAND
II. WASTEWATER MANAGEMENTAND SANITATION
III. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
IV. ENERGY DEMAND
V. THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR
VI. LAND AND COASTAL ZONEDEGRADATION
4 ENVIRONMENTAL URBAN CHALLENGES
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4.1 WATER DEMAND
The rapid demographic growth, urbanexpansion and improvement in lie standards
have caused and will continue to increase thepressure on the natural resources in Lebanon(CDR, 2005). Major actors such as the losso arable land and biodiversity, increasedpollution and the rising costs o inrastructureare impacting upon land resources andour natural environment (MOE, 2010). TheNational Physical Master Plan or the LebaneseTerritory estimates that urbanization wouldevery year consume an additional 10 km onatural areas (CDR, 2005). In such a context,eective management o environmental
hazards and risks, required o the government,is hindered by a number o actors includingthe unstable political environment, the lacko resources and the lack o a guiding visionor policies. This section will look at theenvironmental challenges in Lebanese cities.
The population growth, estimated at a rate o
1.2 percent per annum (World Bank, 2010)and the increase in consumption rates arecausing a rapid increase in the demand orwater or domestic use in urban cities, whichis estimated to reach an average o 420 mm3
4. ENVIRONMENTAL URBAN CHALLENGESin 2030 (CDR, 2005). Falling short in meetingthe domestic demand (supplying roughly 280
mm3
), the local Water Authorities12
ace anarray o natural challenges such as the reducedamount o rainall and snow cover due toclimate change, as presented in Table 5 (CDR,2005, World Bank, 2010).
Moreover, the mismanagement o waterresources, namely the very low water storagecapacity, high amount o water lost to the sea,low operational maintenance o the waterdistribution network (40-50% o the water islost through leaks) and absence o an ocial
management scheme or the water sector (seeBox 7 or inormation on Water Law 2000)lead to regional and seasonal discrepancyin the supply o water (MOE, 2001; UNICEF,2010; CDR, 2005; World Bank, 2010). Arecent UNICEF report (2010) showed that88% o the urban households in Lebanon areconnected to the public network, but not allhousehold receive the same quantity o water.The report presents data showing that waterdelivery depends on the availability o water in
the network, the water pressure, the locationo the household and the season (UNICEF,2010). The continuity o water supply inLebanon is presented in Figure 11 hereater.
12Water Authorities (WAs) in Lebanon operate under
the jurisdiction o the Ministry o Energy and Water.
These autonomous WAs are responsible or operating
local projects ollowing the MOEW approval, distributing
domestic and irrigation water to users, controlling the
quality o water and managing the disposal o wastewater
collected by municipalities in their respective areas
(Makdisi, 2008).Source: Mudallal (1989) as cited in CDR ( 2005)
Input: Rainfall + SnowLosses from evapo-transpirationGroundwater
- Losses outside the national boundaries,
into the sea and to neighbouringcountries: 570 mm3
- Un-exploitable groundwater and seasprings: 600 mm3
- Natural springs fow: 1 145 mm3
- Stored and pumped amounts ordomestic and irrigation uses: 685 mm3
Components Average annual volume (mm3)
+9300-4500-1800
-3000
Table 5: Components of Water Balance in Lebanon
The river o Beirut coincides today with a majortransport corridor linking the coast o Greater BeirutArea with the hinterland.
Loss o water in the network accounts or the highestpercentage o water loss in urban areas in Lebanon,picture rom Bauchreyeh, Greater Beirut Area.
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In 1968, Nahr Beirut was converted rom a riparian river to aconcrete canal and eventually, it mutated into an open sewer. The
highway built on its right bank completed this conversion into aninrastructural conduit o sewage and transport.
Box 7:
Water Law 221/2000
At the time when policies and actions to reorganize
the water sector in Lebanon are fragmented, Law
No. 241 (29/5/2000) came as a reform measure
to strengthen the accountability in the water
sector. The Law reorganizes the existing 22 water
boards into four Regional Water Authorities:
Beirut and Mount Lebanon, North, South , and
Beqaa in addition to one pre-existing river basin
agency. The 2000 reform Law mandates a clear
separation between policy-making and service
provision through the establishment of nancially
and administrative autonomous Regional WaterAuthorities. Autonomy is manifested by the
authorities role in setting subscription fees for
domestic water supply and collecting water tariffs
for domestic and agricultural use. Soon after
the enactment of the Law, the respective reform
agenda, reached an implementation impasse. A
recent report by UNICEF states that the reasons
for not putting the reform agenda into practice
were related to implementation difculties. Such
difculties were related to nancial limitations and
human resource problems.
Source: WHO, 2010; UNICEF, 2010
55Environmental Urban Challenges
Figure 11: Continuity of Water Supply
Source: World Bank, 2010
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As a mean to secure water or dailyconsumption, 50% o the population purchasebottles or gallons, 25% o the population usewater rom vending trucks, 10% use water
rom spring or tapstand, and 10% use privatenetworks (UNICEF, 2010). Another measureused to address the shortage in water supply isseen in some towns creating their own waterservices and water commissions (Domesticand irrigation) under the Ministry o Energyand Waters decision (Ibid). Furthermore, someother local authorities (ex: case o Tripoli)cooperated with the private sector to bettermanage water provision (see Box 8).
A recent country environmental analysisconducted by the WB shows that existinglegislations or the protection o waterresources in Lebanon dates back to 1925and even to the Ottoman era; these werenot updated and sparsely complementedwith additional laws and application decrees(World Bank, 2011). However, the MOEW hasormulated a drat water sector strategy whichis supposed to be nalized in 2011 to coverlegal, institutional, technical, managerial andnancial aspects o the water, wastewater and
irrigation sectors (Ibid).
Box 8:
Public-Private Participation in WaterManagement - The Case of Tripoli
The North Water Authority has experimented with
private sector participation to improve operational
efciency in the Tripoli area. The Water Authority
delegated to a French company the management of
water distribution, O&M, and billings collection for thepotable water system in Tripoli on a trial basis for the
period 2003-2007. The most remarkable achievement
of the private operator has been the signicant
reduction of water losses and the extension of 24
hours of daily supply to the entire urban area of Tripoli
due to upgrade and rehabilitation of the network.
However, the private operator was unable to increase
billings collection to the cost-recovery level, despite
its effort to recover fee arrears. The parties were
unable to reach an agreement for the extension of the
management contract, which ended in 2007.
Source: WHO,2010
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