BEIRUT: A preliminary agreement has been reached regarding the waste treatment file, a source close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam told The Daily Star Sunday.
Monday’s Cabinet session dedicated to the issue will be a smooth one that will generate a conclusive solution to the divisive file that had put the government’s unity at risk, the source added.
An agreement was reached over waste treatment following a meeting Sunday between Salam and Information Minister Ramzi Joreige, from the Kataeb Party, the source added without further elaboration. Kataeb Party ministers had voiced opposition to the plan to treat solid waste as proposed by Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk, saying it lacked transparency.
The Cabinet will hold a special session Monday to tackle the controversial proposal to treat solid waste that had threatened to throw the already divided government into further disarray after it failed to reach an agreement last week.
Speaking to visitors at his residence in Moseitbeh earlier Sunday, Salam said that the Cabinet would try during Monday’s session to find a solution to this problem.
“The Cabinet will not be stopped by a statement here and there, or by a stance here and there, in order to freeze the [waste] issue. We will try to tackle matters as much as we can in a practical and logical manner,” Salam said. The Daily Star has learned that the Kataeb stance on the waste issue, to be announced by party leader Amine Gemayel Monday ahead of the Cabinet session, might carry positive elements softening the Kataeb ministers’ opposition to the plan, by agreeing to the state’s role in choosing the location of the landfills instead of leaving this matter to contractors, as was mentioned in the Environment Ministry’s original plan.
The Cabinet was in a race against time to reach an agreement on the solid waste treatment plan to avoid Beirut’s streets being flooded with trash after Jan. 17, when the contract between the government and Sukleen, the company responsible for sweeping and cleaning the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, expires.
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