Govt. Cancels Waste Disposal Bids, to Set up Temporary Dump in Akkar despite Hizbullah, FPM Withdrawal
The cabinet agreed on Tuesday to cancel the waste management bids that were presented on Monday, during an extraordinary session that witnessed the withdrawal of Hizbullah, Free Patriotic Movement and Tashnag ministers over what Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil described as a “farce.”
The government agreed to dedicate 100 million dollars to set up a temporary dump in the impoverished northern region of Akkar.
The dump will only be established for three years.
The funds will also be used for development projects in the area.
The waste management bids will be referred once again to the concerned ministerial committee, said Information Minister Ramzi Jreij after the session.
A number of politicians had voiced their rejection of the bids due to their “high prices.”
The decision on the elimination of the bids was taken by 16 ministers, but not through a vote, which is the normal course of action that is usually taken, reported LBCI television.
Jreij explained that the Hizbullah and FPM ministers withdrew from the session after the agreement on Akkar had been reached.
He also revealed that the cabinet's decision to cancel the tenders was based on a recommendation by Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq, who objected to their high prices.
Earlier, Bassil told reporters: "Our withdrawal comes as a result of a farce" on the waste crisis.
Hizbullah's Agriculture Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan also said: "We withdrew from the cabinet session because most parties insist on not listening to our demands of real partnership."
Mashnouq announced on Monday the names of companies that won the bidding to manage trash, describing the process as "transparent" and a "significant achievement."
But the move drew criticism from Speaker Nabih Berri, the FPM and other parties.
Berri, whose AMAL movement is represented in the cabinet, demanded the “reevaluation” or a “total annulment” of the bids, saying the prices were high.
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, who is one of the FPM representatives in the government, also told local dailies published on Tuesday that the unsealing of the bids is a “big scandal.”
He compared the waste crisis to a chicken that lays a golden egg.
“If you want to fight it, then you should fight those benefiting from this gold. This is the battle. Either they or the people would win,” he said.
The "You Stink" online group has been holding protests against the trash crisis that erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17.
But the protests, which began as peaceful demonstrations, turned violent this weekend. A small group of young men, allegedly thugs, repeatedly tried to tear down a barbed wire fence separating the crowds from the Grand Serail in downtown Beirut.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq proposed during the cabinet session to transfer the waste to the northern Akkar district in return for carrying out development projects there.
But Bou Saab said he rejected the proposal.
G.K./M.T.
Y.R.
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