The rapporteur of the Public Works Committee, MP Mohamed Khawaja, confirmed during a session of the Committee on Public Works, Transport, Energy, and Water held in the parliamentary council, chaired by MP Sajia Atyeh, that "the Public Works Committee approved today the proposed law submitted by MP Ahmed Al-Khayr regarding the extension of deadlines for applications to legalize drilled wells before the parliamentary council ratifies the water law." He stated, "Under the law, we had given a one-year extension, which came into effect in 2020. However, due to the pandemic and the general situation in the country, the number of applications submitted was low, and many citizens were unable to submit their requests. We saw it was in the public's interest to address this issue, so the committee agreed to extend the deadlines for two years from the date the proposed law is approved in the legislative session. There is a clause in the water law that stipulates that the drilled wells prior to the law's approval, of which there are around 80,000 in all Lebanese territories, need to have their statuses legalized, and a one-year extension was granted through a clause in the law."
Khawaja added, "As I mentioned, in light of the pandemic and the country's situation, colleague MP Ahmed Al-Khayr submitted a proposed law to extend the application deadlines. Another issue we discussed was the collapsing buildings, which is an ongoing crisis in all regions, and we hear periodically about building collapses." He clarified that "after extensive discussion, we agreed to propose a modern law, already in effect in several countries, related to periodic maintenance. We will work on this as a group of MPs in collaboration with the engineering syndicates in Beirut and the north, and there will be a time frame for their work concerning the renewal of construction permits, which mandates the relevant authorities to conduct inspections and requires residents or building owners to undertake maintenance."
