The Minister of Public Works and Transport in the caretaker government, Ali Hamiye, held a press conference in his office at the ministry, attended by the Director General of Civil Aviation, Fadi Al-Hassan. The conference discussed the completion of the procedures for the concession of the duty-free market at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut. Hamiye announced that "the public bidding committee for the management and investment of retail areas designated for sale in the current passenger terminal and the general aviation building at the airport (duty-free) held a meeting today, with the attendance of a representative from the Public Procurement Authority. The committee received the minutes of the two submitted bids. After reviewing, the committee decided to temporarily award the concession to PAC-Duty Free SAL. The ministry will complete the concession procedures in accordance with the provisions of the public procurement law, especially Article 24 regarding the rules for accepting the winning bid (temporary concession), and is organizing the contract after conducting prior oversight from the Court of Accounts according to the established regulations."
He noted that "the temporary concession was awarded for an amount of 1,120 billion lira, in addition to 3.5 dollars per passenger, making the total concession value approximately 1,900 billion lira, knowing that the previous concession was around 150 billion lira." He explained that "the state treasury revenues will increase by 1,750 billion, contributing to further reducing the budget deficit," emphasizing that "Lebanon is not a poor country, and the proof is that a single facility at the airport, among thousands of public facilities in Lebanon, has contributed to reducing the budget deficit by 20 percent." He pointed out that "after including the ministry's revenues, the deficit decreased to 10,800 billion." He believed that "what happened today regarding the duty-free market will lead to another reduction of less than 10,000 billion," noting that "the revenues of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport will reach more than 15,000 billion next year."
