Ministers Upbeat on Trash Crisis after Deal Reached to Set Up Landfills in South, North
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb ended a series of meetings to resolve the trash disposal crisis on Thursday by announcing that an agreement had been reached to establish landfills in two regions, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Friday.
Landfills will be set up in the northern region of Srar and southern region of al-Kfour, while a debate remains over the establishment of a landfill in the Keserouan-Northern Metn area.
“We will witness a solution to the garbage crisis that will relieve the Lebanese,” Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hizbullah announced after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam Friday at the Grand Serail along with Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil of the AMAL Movement.
Khalil for his part said that he expects the cabinet to convene early next week to approve the waste management plan.
“The atmosphere is positive and we passed on the information we have to PM Salam, who will continue the discussions and the measures,” he added.
There had been speculation that a landfill will be established in the eastern Bekaa region, but that was rejected by the locals, so the Kfour area will be used instead.
This was met by the approval of Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement who hold sway in those areas.
An obstacle emerged however with the objection of the Kataeb Party and Free Patriotic Movement to the Keserouan dump.
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab of the FPM informed Shehayyeb during their talks on Thursday that the movement “cannot accept the proposed plan to end the garbage crisis and it will not vote on it at cabinet,” said al-Mustaqbal.
Shehayyeb meanwhile announced that Prime Minister Tammam Salam will call cabinet to convene in “the upcoming hours” to adopt the solution.
The garbage of the Keserouan and Metn regions will be distributed between the South and North landfills, he explained to LBCI television Thursday.
Shehayyeb had concluded on Thursday his series of talks with officials by holding a meeting at the Grand Serail with Salam, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on the garbage crisis.
The premier's sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper Friday that Salam will grant Shehayyeb until Saturday to reach a final solution to the crisis.
The visitors of Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday meanwhile quoted him as saying that efforts are underway to resolve the objection to the establishment of a landfill in the Keserouan region, adding that the garbage crisis has become the state's main concern, reported al-Joumhouria.
Lebanon has been suffering from a trash disposal crisis since July with the closure of the Naameh landfill.
Politicians have failed to find an alternative to the landfill, resulting in the pile up of garbage on the streets of the country.
Heavy rain on Sunday brought with it flooded streets coupled with waste, as experts warned of the health and environmental impact of the crisis.
M.T./Y.R.
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