Reopening of Naameh Landfill Hinges on Jumblat
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Sources close to Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat have expressed conflicting views about the reopening of Lebanon's largest landfill in Naameh in an attempt to resolve the country's snowballing garbage crisis.
Some sources told al-Akhbar daily published on Thursday that guarantees made by al-Mustaqbal movement for the transfer of part of the Beirut and Mount Lebanon trash to the Srar landfill in Akkar and to the waste plant in Sidon would pave way for Jumblat to take a decision to reopen the Naameh landfill.
They said such a move would be temporary and would be accompanied by incentives for Naameh and surrounding towns pending the government's approval of a final waste management plan.
The Naameh landfill, which lies in Shouf district, opened in 1997 to receive trash from the capital and the heavily-populated Mount Lebanon area for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised.
But that plan never came to fruition. The valley that was originally expected to receive only two million tons of waste swelled into a trash mountain of over 15 million tons 18 years after it opened.
The government closed the landfill last month, causing a trash crisis that snowballed into anti-government protests in downtown Beirut.
Other sources close to Jumblat, a Shouf MP, told al-Akhbar that the PSP chief would not make an effort to convince the representatives of Naameh and the towns in the region to reopen the landfill.
Jumblat has expressed concern that the protests would move from Riad al-Solh and Martyr's squares in central Beirut to Naameh, they said.
According to the sources, discussions among officials are now focusing on a temporary solution for the transfer of the waste to Sidon, Akkar and the eastern mountain range in the Bekaa Valley.
But such a solution should go hand-in-hand with a government decision to grant towns near the mountain range 100 million dollars similar to what it did in Akkar, said the sources.
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb, who is a PSP official, is expected to deliver a report to Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday on ways to resolve the country's waste crisis, said An Nahar daily.
Salam appointed Shehayyeb on Monday to lead a committee of waste specialists.
The minister hinted during a press conference he held on Thursday that he would propose giving municipalities wider authorities in trash disposal.
G.K.
D.A.
03 September 2015, 08:35
126
why does opening or closing the Naameh landfill hinge on Junblatt?! Does he own the landfill or the town of Naameh?
Ridiculous! The landfill should have never been closed in the first place prior to finding a final effective solution.
03 September 2015, 09:03
104
you sound like a reasonable chap @marcus. Do you think it is fair I was banned and humiliated?
03 September 2015, 08:54
104
I am the_roar: I am a regular "elusive" poster on naharnet. I have 48 fake accounts and I live on this forum 24/7. I make fake accounts and insult people when I have no argument or debate. I am a Shia who pretends not to speak Arabic and claims to live in Australia. I know every street in Lebanon and every MP's name despite my claim that I am 3rd generation Australian and having never been to Lebanon. I tell people I don't post on weekends to give them the impression I have a life. I lie and lie and lie and think people believe me.
My best friend is mowaten.
03 September 2015, 13:45
122
(2). Movements like the You Stink Youth movement should be given a say in all decision making procedures because it is them that created the catalyst to start this awareness. I am proposing the election of two excellent candidates, either Dimianos Kattar or Ziad Baroud, they are two super clean people, no one has anything on them, not even a speck of dust. Then I also propose that we revise Taef, for it is Taef that has caused the lethargy of these past decades. Now let's get started with Neehmeh, one year, let's the specialists on trash management and recycling brought in, we must move before the rains come, if we want to avoid catastrophe.
03 September 2015, 15:03
00
With all respect to all some are seen by others as excellent candidates and some others are considering themself as excellent and unique. Dimianos, Baroud, Harb, Franjieh, Aoun, Geagea etc.... Some impose themselves as gods others are only citizens.
Some have clean hands and others pretend so. Names are of little importance as compared to the good will to allow the elections. Lebanon has lots of problems as a result of presidential vacuum. A president has no magic powers to solve everything but is needed to help people choose new politicians (with honesty higher than 50%). Therefore other problems can be delt with.
03 September 2015, 18:32
51
My post number 1 ya Mod has been deleted, and why? Did it contain any insults or slurs? No, it didn't, but that silly automated system of yours does respond to the rat trolls who are here but to thumb us down and report our posts in the hope that your dumb auto system deletes our posts. I am sorry to say this, but the mod team is not worthy of this paper, you know that it is read worldwide, but on the forum side you are lacking badly. Now please undelete my post, check the trolls and rectify a sick system, if you please.
03 September 2015, 19:44
13
It does not hinge on Jumblatt but rather the people of that region who have been opposing the dump for few years and allowed the last extension with the promise from the government there would be other alternatives by the time to shuts down. People from Dammour to Shahhar West have coped not only with the smell but also with the diseases caused by the garbage dump. Jumblatt will not risk a popular base he has, especially in Shahhar Gharbi! + The Government should have had a solution
