Abi Nasr slams sale of land to foreigners

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Politics :: Abi Nasr slams sale of land to foreigners

BEIRUT: Change and Reform bloc MP Neamatallah Abi Nasr warned Tuesday that successive governments have manipulated the country’s demographics and geography after a decree was recently issued to sell a hill in the Christian town of Harissa to a Saudi Prince, the National News Agency reported Tuesday.

Abi Nasr, who was speaking in Parliament, said that the decree was “part of the policy to manipulate the country’s demographics and geography by successive governments that ruled Lebanon after the Taif Accord.” He was referring to the accord that put an end to Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War.

According to Abi Nasr, pressure was exerted on the government and on the prime minister and finance minister especially to issue the decree. Abi Nasr accused successive governments of violating the foreign ownership law which states that foreigners cannot own more than 10 percent of land in Beirut and more than 3 percent of land in each of the country’s qadas, calling on the Finance Ministry to hand over accurate numbers of land sold to foreigners.

“I know that in Beirut, over 25 percent of the city’s real estate has been sold to foreigners, which means that [the government] is lenient with selling land [to foreigners] and our children are emigrating. Where are we heading? I don’t know,” Abi Nasr lamented.