Fees on coastal facilities triple

More than 90 percent of exploitants do not pay

Total annual fees from maritime public property are estimated at $10 million, Minister of Transportation and Public Works, Ghazi Aridi said on Tuesday. The Cabinet approved, in August, a decree increasing fees on licensed seaside properties. These facilities used to pay a total of $3 million a year.

“These fees are collected only from the 73 licensed establishments,” said Abdul Hafiz al Qaisi, Director General of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation. This figure represents less than ten percent of all facilities.

According to the ministry, there are 1,068 exploitations of public maritime property. Beach resorts, hotels, and other private facilities situated along the coast are all using public maritime property. These exploitations, which had mainly started between 1975 and 1994, occupy more than 20 percent of the 250-km-long coastline.

“There were no new settlements after 1994, but some already existing facilities have recently expanded their locations by reclaiming more land from the sea,” Qaisi said.

Aridi called on the Parliament to ratify a 2006 draft law on the regularization of maritime property violations. “The adoption of this draft will urge all facilities, not only the licensed ones, to pay occupation fees,” said Qaisi.