The state continues to encroach on, neglect, or allow the private sector to control landed public property, this time through a decree of the Council of Ministers allowing Al-Hiba Real Estate Company to occupy 446 square meters of public property, specifically the railway line in the Naameh area, to construct a private car passage to ensure access to the company’s properties 611 and 567 parallel to the beach, where a large contested resort was planned to be built since 2018. It is noteworthy that in return for this encroachment, the company must pay the state treasury annual revenues of approximately two billion and two hundred million Lebanese pounds, or about $25,000, in accordance with Decree 11258 issued in May 2023, which amended the bases for calculating the price per square meter to determine the annual fee for occupying public property. This is not a small amount, but it indicates the government’s tendency to consider public property as a mere revenue-generating commodity to cover the expenses incurred by the state, while ignoring the importance of protecting public property.
Read the full commentary in Arabic here.
