BEIRUT: Naameh’s mayor announced Tuesday that he would defy the Cabinet’s decision to extend the deadline for closing the town's infamous landfill, pledging direct action to shut the facility down on time.
“Extending for the landfill beyond the 17th of this month will not be allowed, and we have begun the preparations for a huge protest on the landfill’s doors,” Mayor Khalil Matar told Voice of Lebanon 100.3. “We will not back down.”
After months of heated debate, Lebanon’s ministers finally agreed Monday night on a new plan to manage the country’s waste management sector.
The agreed-upon plan includes postponing the deadline for Naameh landfill’s closure to April 17, with the possibility of another 3-month extension if necessary.
Media reports said the ministers of the Progressive Socialist Party “had reservations” about the decision but did not veto it.
In light of the presidential vacuum, Lebanon's Cabinet is currently making decision by consensus instead of majority vote.
The head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, has repeatedly rejected any delay in closing the facility and had pledged to call for mass demonstrations if the Cabinet decided to do so.
However, the normally vocal Druze leader has yet to comment on the Cabinet decision. Jumblatt enjoys wide popularity in the concerned area, and was behind the end of a protest that shut down the landfill one year ago when he promised that the landfill would be closed in January 2015.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday that Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaiter, who represent the PSP in the Cabinet, left the 5-hour session Monday and made a quick visit to Jumblatt. The visit, the Lebanese daily said, sought to receive his approval for the new plan and extension.
Created as a 6-year project in 1997, the landfill has now been running for 17 years, exceeding its design capacity by a factor of five and frustrating the residents of the area with its odors and gas emissions.
Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk advocated a "technical extension" of the deadline, until an alternative could be found.
The Cabinet’s plan also includes a detailed plan for holding calls for tenders to bring new companies to manage the collection and treatment of garbage across the country.
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