Figures released by the order of Engineers of Beirut & Tripoli show that the number of construction permits reached 7.203 in the first five months of 2014, constituting a marginal decrease of 0.4% from 7.234 in the same period of last year and compared to a 1.6% decline in the first five months of 2013. Mount Lebanon accounted for 43.1% of the number of construction permits in the covered period, followed by South Lebanon with 16.8%, the North with 12.6%, Nabatieh with 12.5%, the Bekaa with 10% and Beirut with 5%.
Further, the surface area of construction permits issued in the first five months reached 6.1 million square meters (sqm), constituting an increase of 14.3% from the same period of last year and compared to decreases of 14.8% in the first five months of 2013 and 11.9% in the same period of 2012. Mount Lebanon accounted for 2.7 million sqm or 44.3% of total construction permits in the covered period. It was followed by the North with 1.1 million sqm (17.4%), the South with 719,493 sqm (11.9%), Beirut with 640,913 sqm (10.6%), the Bekaa with 503,224 sqm (8.3%) and Nabatieh with 455,247 sqm (7.5%). In parallel, cement deliveries totaled 1.7 million tons in the first four months of 2014 and rose by 9.3% annually, relative to an increase of 3.6% in the same period last year and a drop of 2.8% year-on-year in the first four months of 2012.
Lebanon This Week – Byblos Bank
23 June
