Municipalities to receive their entitlements from telephone revenues

The Minister of Telecommunication, Boutros Harb, announced during a press conference held yesterday, the transfer of financial entitlements of municipalities,generated form the revenues of fixed telephone lines and covering the last three quarters of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014. Some 888 municipalities, are expected to benefit form the transfers of the proceeds totaling some LBP 56 billion, each municipality according to its number of phone subscriptions. Furthermore, Harb indicated that through this move, the ministry will be paying it full dues to municipalities and that is until the end of the first quarter of 2014, adding that funds will be transferred directly to the municipalities’ bank accounts at Banque du Liban during the next two days.
The Minister also stressed the key role of municipalities in promoting equitable development at local community levels, through carrying out social, humanitarian and livelihoods development initiatives targeting their citizens. He added that revenues collected from subscriptions of phones constitute one of the most important resources of municipalities. He also indicated that the Ministry ought to immediately transfer the entitlements of municipalities at the end of each quarter, so that they are able to invest in development projects. Harb also indicated that the ministry is aiming to organize a workshop shortly in order to explore ways for increasing the number of phone subscriptions in each mohafazat and thus increase the revenues of municipalities, particularly of those villages located in remote areas.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar 8 April 2014