Ministry of Public Planning, 1954

Once upon a time in Lebanon (3)

As the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), which replaced the Ministry of Public Planning in 1977, proved unable to fulfill the Ministry’s role, many calls have been made to recreate it in order to reduce havoc and develop a comprehensive plan for the country.

Ministry of Public Planning

Decree No. 6393 was issued on September 16, 1954 to create a new ministry under the name of “Ministry of Public Planning”. The Ministry was served by many successive prime ministers, among them the then Prime Minister Sami El Solh.

Functions

The decree organizing the Ministry of Public Planning defines its functions as follows:

• The Ministry of Public Planning shall direct and coordinate Lebanon’s development policy and collect statistics that promote national wealth, increase national income and raise living standards.
• The Ministry of Public Planning shall elaborate a comprehensive public plan that fits the country’s needs and develops it in terms of equipment, construction and maintenance in order to make best use of facilities. The comprehensive public plan shall include subprograms that deal with one or several equipment projects. 
• The Ministry of Public Planning shall render its opinion on the construction projects that are directly implemented by the public administrations for it is the body seeking appropriations for them. 

Structure 

The Ministry of Public Planning is composed of the following:

-The Planning and Development Council

-The Directorate General of Public Planning, which consists of:

• The Diwan
• The Central Administration of Statistics, which was instrumental in providing statistics and conducting baseline surveys.
• Department of Programs and Coordination

Abolishment

Legislative Decree No. 5 of January 31, 1977 provided for the abolishment of Ministry of Public Planning and the establishment of the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).

Today, 44 years after the abolition of the Ministry of Public Planning, the political forces are calling for its creation.