BEIRUT: MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced Tuesday the formation of a Coordination Committee for Mayors to follow up on the budget money that municipalities have not received since 1994.
After a meeting in the Free Patriotic Movement’s headquarters in Rabieh, Kanaan, who is also the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, announced that 13 mayors would form the new committee.
A part of the revenues collected by the Telecommunication Ministry are dedicated to fund Lebanon’s municipalities. However, since 1994, the municipalities have not received the revenues, which are estimated to be worth around $1.3 billion.
Kanaan said the committee would be waiting for a report by the Telecommunications Ministry that states the accurate numbers.
Also, the body’s representatives will lobby for the municipalities’ payments through meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, and the finance, interior and telecommunications ministers, as well as the heads of parliamentary blocs, he said.
Kanaan said the committee would also follow up on funding cuts to the municipalities' budgets, which he said equaled 80 percent.
The committee includes mayors of villages from different Lebanese areas, encompassing the Metn, Baalbek, Hermel, Dinnieh, Akkar, Zghorta, Chouf, Koura, Zahle, Aley and Jezzine.
Separately, the Development and Construction Council announced Tuesday that it had launched a project to the municipalities of villages and towns hosting high numbers of Syrian refugees with emergency aid.
Funded by the World Bank, the $10 million program will be implemented over three years and will cover emergency water, sanitation and waste problems, and the development of the areas' critical infrastructure.
The bodies benefiting from the project will the Bhaira Municipality League, the League of Zahle Municipalities, the League of Baalbek Municipalities, and municipalities in Sahel al-Sahl, Jabal al-Sheikh, Qalaat al-Istiklal, central Bekaa, Arqoub, Tyre, Al-Sheft and Qaytaa.
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