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Market brief

Lebanon

The authorities that procure water infrastructure in Lebanon, how the deals are put together, and what is in the pipeline.

Reference profile for Lebanon

Overview

Lebanon’s water investment is lender-financed. The Ministry of Energy and Water sets policy and supervises the four Water Establishments, which run the services,1 2 while the Council for Development and Reconstruction signs donor-financed works.3 Dams and conveyance are works contracts on lender finance, and wastewater plants have been let as lender-financed build-operate-transfer or design-build-operate contracts; Al-Ghadir, financed by the Islamic Development Bank, went to prequalification in 2025.3 4 The register tracks 12 schemes, US$ 1.1 bn of their disclosed value in projects not yet operating.5 Bids follow the financier’s rules, and payment security rests on the lender’s financing alone.3 The 2024–2035 strategy aims at operating-cost recovery by 2028 and lower non-revenue water from a national average of about 50%,6 but households pay a flat annual fee rather than by volume,1 and there is no separate water regulator.

Market snapshot

The commercial picture in Lebanon: the scale of the economy and the water sector, the investment climate, and where the near-term activity is concentrated.

5.8 M
people (World Bank WDI, 2025) · +0.7% a year
US$ 26.0 bn
GDP (2024) · -7.1% a year
US$ 1.9 bn
disclosed value of tracked projects (major projects register)
US$ 1.1 bn
of which pipeline (projects not yet operating)

Political stability

43/100 · Lower-middle

World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Political stability; higher is more stable.7

Investment climate

41/100 · Lower-middle

World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Regulatory quality for private investment; higher is better.7

Key institutions

  • Ministry of Energy & WaterMinistry
  • Beirut-Mount Lebanon Water EstablishmentUtility
  • North / South / Bekaa EstablishmentsUtility

Financing & PPP

  • PPP frameworkEmerging
  • Tracked projectsUS$ 1.9 bn disclosed value in our projects register, of which US$ 1.1 bn pipeline (not yet operating); a further US$ 0.6 bn is in cancelled schemes
  • Active fundersWorld Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Kuwait Fund
  • Climate adaptation planNational Adaptation Plan submitted to UNFCCC (30 December 2025)

Opportunities

  1. 01Wastewater treatment roll-out
  2. 02Network rehabilitation & NRW reduction
  3. 03Hydropower & storage

Key challenges

  1. 01Chronic supply intermittency
  2. 02High non-revenue water
  3. 03Wastewater largely untreated
  4. 04Financing & governance constraints
Sources and notes

Sources: Water demand by sector and supply by source: Ministry of Energy and Water, National Water Strategy 2024–2035 (June 2024), 2020 baseline estimates. Non-revenue water: the same strategy, national estimate excluding water billed but not collected. No desalination or reuse share is shown: AQUASTAT's figures, 47.3 million m³ of desalinated water (recorded for 2006) and 2 million m³ of treated municipal wastewater used directly, are too old to present as current. The 2 million m³ is flagged imputed in every year from 1995 and traces to a 2006 figure in FAO's 2008 survey, not to a 2015 measurement; the database's separate irrigation-reuse variable has 4 million m³ for 2011 (an official value) and the IWMI study counts no direct reuse in 2020. Population and GDP: World Bank WDI, latest year (shown on each tile). Other figures: FAO AQUASTAT / national reports, latest available, approximate. Governance indicators: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (2025).

Contracting authorities

The bodies that commission, regulate and operate water infrastructure in Lebanon. In Lebanon the Ministry of Energy and Water sets policy and is the primary regulatory agency, supervising the four Water Establishments;1 the establishments run potable water, irrigation and wastewater services and propose tariffs under Law 221 of 2000;2 and the Council for Development and Reconstruction is the contracting authority for donor-financed works.3 There is no separate water regulator.

How deals are structured

The framework in Lebanon is Emerging, the schemes we track carry US$ 1.9 bn of disclosed value, US$ 1.1 bn of it in projects not yet operating, a further US$ 0.6 bn in cancelled schemes, and the funders active in the sector include World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Kuwait Fund.

In Lebanon, dams and conveyance are works contracts let by the Council for Development and Reconstruction on lender finance (the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank for Bisri, the Kuwait Fund and the Arab Fund for Conveyor 800), while wastewater plants have been let as lender-financed build-operate-transfer or design-build-operate contracts (Zahle, to SUEZ; Al-Ghadir, prequalification in 2025). The Finance & Economics hub sets out each model and where it has been used.

How to bid

In Lebanon the water establishments operate; the body that signs donor-financed works is the Council for Development and Reconstruction, and the money is the lender’s. The clearest illustration is the Al-Ghadir treatment plant: a design-build-operate contract for which the council issued a specific procurement notice on 8 May 2025 inviting prequalification applications, under Islamic Development Bank financing, for which the bank’s board approved US$87.5 million in June 2014.4 Bidding was to follow the bank’s international competitive bidding procedures, and prequalification applications were due by 24 June 2025.3

Contracting authorityThe Council for Development and Reconstruction for donor-financed works; the four regional water establishments and the Litani River Authority operate and maintain, under the ministry’s guardianship set by Law 221 of 26 May 2000 as amended.3 2
RoutePre-qualification, then international competitive bidding on the financier’s rules rather than the domestic code.3
Fees and mechanicsPer tender rather than standing. The Al-Ghadir pre-qualification document cost US$300, non-refundable, payable into the council’s “fresh US dollars” account, and electronic bidding was not permitted.3
Domestic preferenceUnder the 2021 procurement law, proposals of national origin may be given a 10% preference over proposals containing foreign supplies or services. That binds tenders run on Lebanese rules, not those run on a lender’s.8
LanguageDocuments and decisions are in Arabic, and where the Arabic and a foreign text conflict, the Arabic prevails.8
ComplaintsTo the complaints authority only, either before the solicitation deadline or within the ten-day standstill after the award notice.8
Payment securityNone beyond the financier: the government states that it intends to pay under the contract from part of the lender’s financing.3

The partnership statute is Law No. 48 of 7 September 2017, preserved by the 2021 procurement law.8 The sector strategy issued in June 2024 sets the direction: operating-cost recovery through tariff adjustment, 80% collection and 75% subscription by 2028, and non-revenue water down 25 percentage points from a national average put at about 50% by 2035.6

Regulatory intelligence

RegulationStatusYearNote
Water Code (Law 77/2018 as amended by Law 192/2020)Partially applied2018/2020Implementing decrees have begun to be issued (Decree 360, May 2025), but the Code is not yet fully applicable.
National Water Strategy 2024–2035Issued by the Ministry of Energy and Water2024Water security, public services, sustainable utilities and good governance.
Litani pollution-control programmeActive2016–Law 63 of 2016 funding plus Litani River Authority lawsuits against polluters.
Tariff adjustmentAdjusted2024Flat fee raised to about US$150 a year for 1 m³ a day.

Institutional capacity is crisis-constrained and arrangements shift with the local situation.

Projects

Tracked schemes in Lebanon, largest first. Each has its own page with the parties, the finance and a dated history.

Switch layer
OperationalUnder constructionIn tenderPlannedDot size follows disclosed value. Click a dot for the project page.
Sources and notes

Interactive map: switch views, hover or focus a marker, and use the +/− controls (or double-click, then drag) to zoom and pan. Geometry and data from the MENA Water Review library.

Cancelled

Bisri Dam

Dam and water supply scheme · US$617 m original project cost (2014); World Bank financing cancelled in 2020 and the project closed in June 2024; listed for resumed construction in the 2024–2035 national water strategy

Under construction

Greater Beirut Water Supply

Conveyance + treatment · US$561.7 m, the World Bank's project budget at the first project's closing on 30 April 2025 (ICR, December 2025), up from US$370 m at appraisal and including a financing gap of around US$219 m; the second phase (IBRD loan of US$257.8 m, P504170, approved 15 January 2025) finances the completion of these works, so it is not added, to avoid counting the unfinished first-phase works twice

Under construction

Conveyor 800

Water transmission pipeline · US$360 m overall cost estimate (2014); no construction status after 2015 found

In tender

Ghadir Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment + sewer networks · EUR 146 m approximate total project cost, including sewer networks (European Investment Bank), converted at EUR 0.85 per US$ (World Bank official exchange rate, euro area, 2018 average, the year the EIB's EUR 68.5 m finance contract was signed)

Operational

Tripoli Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment · US$95 m

Operational

Iaat Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment · US$49.63 m is the cost of the whole Ba'albeck Water and Wastewater Project, not the plant alone; the plant has operated since 2011, and in August 2026 the Environment Ministry said it had stopped and was awaiting repair, while the Energy Ministry listed it as operating (Annahar)

Operational

Zahle Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment · EUR 29 m (Italian loan of EUR 22 m and EUR 7 m from the Government of Lebanon), converted at EUR 0.89 per US$ (World Bank official exchange rate, euro area, 2017 average, the year the plant was completed; the loan is dated 2000 by UNDP and 2005 by the National News Agency, so no loan-year rate is used); reuse planned, not built

Operational

Qaraoun Dam

Dam and hydroelectric scheme · cost not disclosed

Operational

Chabrouh Dam

Dam and water supply scheme · cost not disclosed

In tender

Brissa Dam

Dam (storage and irrigation) · cost not disclosed

Planned

Bourj Hammoud Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater treatment · cost not disclosed

Stalled

Jannah Dam

Dam and water supply scheme · cost not disclosed

Track record

Contracts on record in Lebanon, from the awards log and the major projects register, dated by commissioning where known.

Disclosed value by year

US$ bn of tracked awards in Lebanon carrying a published value

20090.1 bn20170.03 bn
YearProjectWinning firmsUS$ m
2017 on lineZahle Wastewater Treatment PlantSUEZ developer33
2009 on lineTripoli Wastewater Treatment PlantSUEZ, Butec contractor95
Sources and notes

Years without a label are award years from the curated log; rows marked on line are dated by commissioning, from the projects register. Register rows without a commissioning date show their stage instead: awarded, with the year recorded, or under construction or operating, with no year. 2 rows in total for Lebanon.

Repeat winners

  • SUEZ2 tracked awards, 1 as developer, 1 as contractor

Pipeline & tenders

Structured procurements and live tenders in Lebanon, drawn from the same review that maintains the pipeline tracker.

Pipeline & awards

Tenders

Full PPP pipeline & awards Where to find live tenders

Prices

What households pay

Household tariff (US$/m³)Cost of supply (US$/m³)YearSource
flat-ratenot published2024Ministry of Energy and Water, National Water Strategy 2024–2035; World Bank, Second Greater Beirut Water Supply Project appraisal document (December 2024)

Billed as an annual lump sum for a nominal 1 m³ a day (about US$150 a year in 2024, World Bank) rather than by metered volume. The ministry’s strategy says current tariff levels, affected by the devaluation of the Lebanese pound, do not allow the Water Establishments to reach financial breakeven. It targets recovery of operating costs by 2028 through tariff adjustment, increased collection and subscription, and reduced production costs, and gives the current national non-revenue water average as 50%.

Residential tariffs, and the cost of supply where a utility publishes it, are kept in one place for the whole region so the comparison holds: a tariff means little without the cost it is measured against.

Tariffs & cost benchmarks Desalination bid prices

Watch list

No dated items have been carried forward for Lebanon yet. This section fills from the monthly briefings as they are published.

Sources

8 references

Project, pipeline and tender records are compiled from procurer announcements, lender disclosures and trade reporting; each project page carries its own source and the date it was last checked. Institutions are from the decision-maker directory. Economic and water indicators are cited on the reference profile.

  1. World Bank, project appraisal document, Second Greater Beirut Water Supply Project (P504170), 12 December 2024.
  2. Law No. 221 of 26 May 2000 on water sector organisation (Lebanon), English text with its amendments.
  3. Islamic Development Bank, specific procurement notice, Al-Ghadir wastewater treatment plant, 8 May 2025.
  4. Islamic Development Bank, “IDB approves more than US$ 447 million for financing new development projects”, 23 June 2014 (US$87.5 million for the Al Ghadir drainage basin).
  5. MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
  6. Ministry of Energy and Water (Lebanon), Lebanon’s National Water Strategy 2024–2035, June 2024.
  7. Kaufmann & Kraay, Worldwide Governance Indicators (World Bank), 2025 update: political-stability and regulatory-quality scores, 0–100, shown in the market snapshot. worldbank.org/wgi.
  8. Public Procurement Law No. 244 of 2021 (Lebanon), unofficial English translation, December 2024.

Numbered references are linked from the superscript markers in the text. Figures without a marker come from the sources above as compiled in the site methodology.

Sources and notes

Firms appearing on two or more tracked awards in Lebanon. For a PPP, BOT, BOO or independent water, power or sewage project the winner counted is the developer or sponsor consortium; for an EPC or works contract it is the contractor. Each consortium member is counted on its own. EPC contractors working for a developer, subcontractors and equipment suppliers are not counted, and a PPP whose developer is not recorded counts for no firm.