Amidst the economic crisis in Lebanon since 2019, municipalities are suffering from challenging conditions that prevent them from completing their municipal development work. Consequently, this matter is reflected in the smallest daily issues which are not available in a great number of villages. While municipalities are facing many challenges, they are resorting to local associations and international organizations, as prior to the crisis, to get their help as much as possible, in parallel with some small initiatives taken by the residents of some villages toward their villages, in cooperation with their municipalities, while other municipalities are struggling to survive. Whereas providing energy and water was the biggest problem under the current crisis, assistance and cooperation with municipalities focused mainly on energy.
Describing the current situation of the municipality, Hassan Dabbouk, President of the Union of Tyre Municipalities (UTM) said: “It’s on the verge of bankruptcy. All the union’s incomes are failing to do one quarter of a development project.” Whereas there are three financing sources for the municipality, including the independent municipal fund, the direct taxes collected from residents by the municipality, and the taxes paid by the Electricity, Water and Communication Authority to the municipality, they all stopped, and the municipality staff are not coming to work due the collapse of salary values.
In an attempt to increase resources, the UTM raised taxes on people as “a struggle for survival”, according to Dabbouk. However, this effort was undermined at the time of increasing the minimum wage and transport allowance.
In terms of expatriate remittances and the donations of the residents of villages in the district of Tyre as an additional resource for the municipality, Dabbouk says that the contributions come within the framework of specific events and need a social sense. The expatriate remittances support the residents of villages directly and do not pass through the municipality, he says.
Dabbouk says that there are some projects taking place with international and local organizations, “but amidst the existential threat against municipalities, along with the lack of stability, planning for the municipal work is undermined, and it’s difficult to benefit from the financing targeting these project.”
Going up North, Ahmad El Mir, President of the Union of Wassat and Sahel El Qayteh Municipalities said that some municipalities reached the stage of “shame” in terms of not being able to cover the expenses of expanding their scope, especially regarding the collection of waste. Municipalities are still cashing their money according to the 1,500 Lebanese Pounds rate, while the exchange rate of the US dollar in the black market is up to 100,000 Lebanese Pounds, and the municipalities of our union lack any other resources.”
El Mir cites the example of the village of Burj El Arab that receives 225 million Lebanese Pounds in favor of the municipality, but needs 3,500 US dollars per month to collect waste. The amount exceeds 30,000 US dollars over 10 months. As the municipality can’t afford this money, “the President of the Municipality begged for money from people to cover these expenses.” According to El Mir, the municipalities, under his union, do not receive any donations from their residents, but residents are being subject to pressure to provide aid, even at a small percentage. “The citizen is not able to do so. I know some people in the village who receive charity, so how can they help the municipality?”
In the rural areas that fall within the scope of the Union of El Qayteh Municipalities, there are no large commercial institutions covering the municipality’s expenses difference, while residents cannot compensate this difference alone. According to El Mir, the municipality didn’t raise the collection fee yet, due to the objection of the concerned people in the Ministry of Interior. Therefore, “we are facing a challenging problem,” El Mir said. Many presidents of municipalities wait patiently for holding the municipal elections to rest from the burden entrusted to them, as they fail to provide the least municipal activities to their residents under the current crisis.
Aid to municipalities were led by energy and water projects
The cooperation of municipalities with international organizations and local associations is not new. But with the aggravation of the crisis, the nature of cooperation, assistance and projects provided by these institutions to municipalities changed.
Nabil Mouawad, a Director General in a local institution active in Lebanon said: “Since the beginning of the crisis, the projects of the institution focused on providing power for households, municipalities, schools, dispensaries, and governmental hospitals, as energy was our priority,” based on many applications that the institution received from the municipalities to secure energy. The institution met this demand by establishing energy projects that provide solar power in parallel with the village’s generator to reduce the diesel bill. Moreover, the institution offered energy to a great number of water wells for irrigation or drinking water.
In the same context, Ezza Adra, the Executive Director in an association active in North says that the association is building partnerships with municipalities, such as the municipalities of El Minieh, Tripoli, Akkar, and El Danniyeh among others.
Among the projects of the association since the beginning of the crisis is offering four prefabricated rooms in the official school of Ilat in Akkar. The rooms were equipped with everything needed, especially the solar power in addition to the establishment of a school playground.
Furthermore, the association offered a project in collaboration with the Municipality of Tripoli – Water Authority to be established in the municipalities of Tripoli, Zgharta and Koura. The project is currently awaiting the results of negotiations with donors.
Municipalities overcoming the crisis “successfully”
Despite the aggravation of the crisis, some municipalities emerged as examples of succeeding to overcome the crisis, each in their own way, although their situation is not perfect, but it’s certainly better than many other municipalities.
Charles Ghafari, President of the Municipality of Damour says that the financial situation of the residents of Damour is not so great. That’s why “we rely on the touristic and commercial institutions in the village to secure the municipality’s resources.”
At the same time, the municipality communicates with the international donor institutions that helped it in many development projects in Damour. The municipality also improved the irrigation and drinking water network in Damour. The international organizations supported the municipality with solar power to secure drinking water. All the projects started and were delivered after the economic crisis that affected Lebanon in 2019, according to Ghafari. To increase the resources of the municipality, the municipality is organizing a summer festival to earn some revenues. The municipality benefited from this festival recently to maintain the municipal playground.
The municipality resorts to such cooperation and receives support from international organizations, as it lacks large industries and commercial institutions and the active private sector that can support the municipality, except some tourism projects that help as much as possible.
Wissam Zaarour, President of Jbeil Municipality says that the municipality is cooperating with the private sector regarding different needs, whether to provide solar-powered lighting from commercial stores or collect waste, especially in the archeological area. The municipality is communicating directly with investors, commercial institutions and expatriates to support the municipality with US fresh dollar.
Moreover, the municipality is cooperating this year with the owners of night clubs and restaurants to support the municipality to secure cleaning and police at night, provide additional municipality workers and offer them the minimum wage to stay in their functions. The private sector is also handling the organization and support of festivals held in the city to earn some revenues for the municipality. The municipality executed the overall projects in cooperation with foreign organizations amidst the crisis, especially at the level of lighting the city.
The abovementioned municipalities are examples that reflect the situation in Lebanon as a whole, while cooperation between municipalities and international organizations and local associations is not new. The nature of cooperation and assistance provided by these institutions changed with the aggravation of the crisis. Municipalities started to focus on securing electricity and water resources through some projects, such as the solar power establishments in different municipalities and offering energy for water supply. The collective efforts by international and local organizations and institutions are certainly necessary to reduce the severe crisis and make the Lebanese municipalities resilient.