Panel Issues Notice of Non-Registration of Lebanon Water Supply Project  

The Inspection Panel on April 17, 2023, issued a Notice of Non-Registration for a Request for Inspection relating to a Lebanon Water Supply Project.

The Request for Inspection was submitted on March 7, 2023, by four individuals from Midane, Lebanon. They authorized a representative of the Arab Watch Coalition, a regional coalition of civil societies from the Middle East and North Africa region, to support them in the Panel process.

The Requesters allege that their orchard, which provided substantial income to their family, was acquired without adequate compensation. They explain they are unclear whether their land was acquired under the Greater Beirut Water Supply Project and its Additional Financing or under the Water Supply Augmentation Project due to a lack of clarity in available documents. They explain that they appealed the valuation of their land in court, which ruled in their favor, but that this ruling was disregarded and that severe currency devaluation during the compensation process rendered their compensation inadequate and caused them substantial harm. They also explain that they were asked to pay a considerable “clearance fee” to facilitate the process and, due to expiration of the one-calendar-year clearance, were pressured to accept less compensation than what the court determined. They allege that they await adequate compensation despite losing the land more than five years ago.

The Panel reviewed the Request for Inspection and conducted its due diligence, which concluded that the land acquisition and resettlement process subject to this Request was undertaken under the Water Supply Augmentation Project, which was 100 percent disbursed at the time of receipt of the Request. In accordance with the Panel Resolution and Operating Procedures, this Request is thus not admissible and the Panel issued a Notice of Non-Registration on April 17, 2023. More