Ministers at Loggerheads on Waste despite Mashnouq's Optimisim on Deal Next Week

Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq stressed on Saturday that the cabinet would reach a decision on the waste management file by January 17, the deadline for closing the Naameh landfill and the date when the contract with the company, which collects dumps in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, expires.

Al-Mashnouq told Ad-Diyar daily published on Saturday that the decision would not be reached over the weekend but definitely at the start of next week.

The minister hinted, however, that the Naameh dump may remain open for some months despite the objection of Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat.

Following his remarks, a cabinet session was set for Monday to deal with the issue.

Jumblat reiterated to Ad-Diyar on Saturday that the road to the landfill that lies in the Shouf district south of Beirut will be closed on January 17.

But he expressed readiness to be more lenient if the proposed bill of al-Mashnouq is approved by the cabinet without amendments.

“We could study the issue on condition that the plan announced by Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq is approved without changes,” said Jumblat.

The cabinet failed on Thursday to give the green light to the bill after the Kataeb ministers objected to several aspects of the plan to treat solid waste.

The plan divides Lebanon into five blocs and requests the Council of Development and Reconstruction to launch tenders to sign contracts with companies to collect and treat solid waste in several areas.

The Kataeb party said on Friday the plan gives the companies too much power to decide the location of landfills. Its representatives in the cabinet are seeking to give the government the upper hand in that regard.

But the party's statement angered Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who according to al-Liwaa daily, canceled a meeting that was scheduled to take place between him and Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel on Saturday.

Kataeb Minister Alain Hakim also ruled out in remarks published in the newspaper a meeting between Gemayel and the party's representatives in the cabinet with Salam.

“The Kataeb stance on the choice of landfills hasn't changed,” he stressed.

Hakim sad the party fears that if the companies were allowed to decide the location of the landfills in each of the areas mentioned in the plan, then the firms would come under the influence of powerful politicians in the respective regions.

The controversy on the issue has compelled several officials to mediate to resolve the problem by January 17 when the contract with Sukleen, which is the company responsible for collecting dumps, expires.

According to a previous government decision, the authorities should also close by that date the Naameh landfill. Failure to do so, threatens to drown Beirut and Mount Lebanon streets with trash.

Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb, who is one of the mediators, lamented that an agreement reached by the cabinet to have consensus on controversial issues in the absence of a president has paralyzed the cabinet.

“It is not permissible for the decision to be suspended because of the opinion of a single party,” he said.