Establishment

The Lebanese government allocated in July 1963 LBP 27 million for the land reclamation project known as the Green Project. The project stretched for 10 years, starting in 1964 and ending in 1973. A committee was formed operating within the Ministry of Agriculture under the supervision of its minister to implement the project. Reclaiming fields, cultivating land, building roads, drilling water wells, are but a few examples of the works undertaken by the project to increase the cultivated green areas in Lebanon.

Administrative Committee and Personnel

An administrative committee consisting of a President (Maronite by convention) and two members, one Sunni and one Shia’a, was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Project.

The 77 staff members are distributed as follows:

Bureau (11 posts)

• Head of Bureau: 1
• Head of Department: 3
• Clerk: 6
• Translator: 1

Accounting Department (7 posts)

• Head of Department: 1
• Assistant Accountant: 4
• Treasurer: 1
• Clerk: 1

Technical Departments (59 posts)

• Head of Department (Engineer): 1
• Head of Region (Engineer): 8
• Engineer: 14
• Technical Assistant: 16
• Surveyor: 8
• Draftsman: 4
• Clerk: 8

Mechanism of Action

The Green Project Office is responsible for performing its assigned duties upon the request of the farmers and the landlords who undertake a share of the cost as follows:

• 10% if the cost of works is below LBP 3 million.
• 15% if the cost of works ranges between LBP 3 million and LBP 6 million.
• 20% if the cost of works exceeds LBP 6 million.

Budget

As part of the allocations assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture, the public budget awards every year credits for the Green Project. In the 2012 draft budget law, the share of the Green Project rose to LBP 24.9 billion, up from LBP 10 billion in 2000. Table 1 shows the evolution of the Green Project budget from 2000 until 2012.

Source: Public budget laws (2000- 2006) and draft budget laws (2006- 2012)

Over the course of 50 years, the Green Project has failed to achieve the purpose of its establishment as the abandoned spaces remain by far larger than the green ones, not to mention that the urban sprawl and the expansion of wildfires have had dramatic impact on the already scant green areas. The reasons of failure are numerous, and the modest budget given to this Project can be placed at the top of them all.