In a statement on 5 September 2020, the World Bank (WB) announced that it had cancelled USD 244 million in undisbursed funds for the Bisri Dam project, due to non-completion of the preconditions required  that are preconditions to the commencement of construction of the Bisri Dam project. The bank said that it had notified the Lebanese government about its decision which takes effect immediately. The Bisri Dam project, which was approved in 2015 at total cost of USD 617 million, had been under partial suspension since June 26, 2020 after the WB raised issues regarding the implementation of the project. 

The Bank set July 22, 2020 as the deadline for the Lebanese government to meet all requirements in a manner that is satisfactory to the bank for the suspension to be lifted. Later, the deadline was extended until September 4, 2020. However, the WB said that the Lebanese government failed to meet the deadline to finalise ecological compensation plan and arrangements for operations and management of the dam as well as. The WB further stated that the government failed mobilise a contractor at the worksite of the project.

For years, environmental activists have called for the project to be stopped completely, and that the site be turned into a nature reserve. A few weeks before the decision, activists in Lebanon launched an online campaign criticising the WB and claiming that financing the Bisri Dam project contradicts the bank’s commitment to fighting corruption. The Lebanese podcast host Mouin Ali Jaber has further described the Bisri Dam project as "financial and environmental disaster that will scar the country for years”