BEIRUT: Municipal leaders and politicians were at odds with civil society groups Wednesday over the closure of the controversial Naameh landfill as lawmakers stood by the Cabinet decision to delay while local residents threatened to protest. Mayors of the Naameh area met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and several ministers Wednesday to discuss Cabinet’s decision to delay the closure of the landfill by three months. All the municipal leaders left the meeting in support of the decision.
“We won’t go to the streets, we won’t block any roads, and the landfill will not close on Jan. 17,” Mayor of Baawerta Ahmad Ayash told The Daily Star after the meeting.
“It’s true we have had bad experiences in the past but this time the decision to shut down the dump [in April] is a final one.”
Ayash, other mayors and Jumblatt had all previously said that they staunchly opposed any delay on the closure of the Naameh landfill, but Jumblatt also came out and expressed his support for the Cabinet’s decision.
“The pressure by political parties and civil society was the reason we reached this clear plan,” he said after the meeting when asked about his change of stance. Jumblatt implied that his previous position was to ensure the Cabinet makes the best possible decision.
Jumblatt, who is influential in the area, also said he was glad to see the new strategy included giving financial motives to the residents of Naameh.
The Campaign to Close Naahmeh Landfill held a meeting Wednesday evening after which they told the media they did not agree with their municipal leaders’ stance.
“We call for the immediate resignation of the Environment Minister [Mohammad Machnouk] following his failure to find an alternative landfill,” a spokesperson told reporters.
They also warned that they would not accept any delay in the closure of the landfill and would block its entrance at 5 p.m. on Jan. 17, the date it was originally supposed to close.
This could lead to a repeat of last year’s protest that saw local residents block the entrance to the landfill, resulting in enormous pile-ups of trash around the capital. The protests were only dismantled following a pledge by Jumblatt that it would be closed on Jan. 17 2015.
The Naameh landfill was opened in 1999 under a six-year contract but remains open 17 years later, significantly impacting residents that live in close proximity to the dump. Locals say there is high cancer rate in their communities due to toxins emitted to from the landfill.
Cabinet approved a national solid waste management plan Monday drafted by the Environment Ministry which included a three-month delay in the closure of the Naameh landfill to April 17, with an option to extend that a further three months.
In the towns of Abay and Ain Darafill, winds blowing northwest drag the pungent smells of the landfill in and cloak the smell of trees in the villages. The streets are covered in banners demanding the immediate closure of the landfill.
The Mayor of Abay-Ayn Darafill Ghassan Hamza said that these two towns were the most affected by the toxins released from the landfill. He told The Daily star that he supported the extension as it was under new circumstances, adding that his constituents were resilient.
“We will speak to the community and say that if you’ve been able to bear this for 17 years then you can be patient for three more months,” Hamza said
Noises of trucks that work in the landfill reached the western end of the two towns where a woman named Farida Hamzeh walked with her two children. “Let’s get it over with and let’s close this damn landfill,” Hamzeh said. “We have suffered a lot and our children have got diseases from the toxins of the landfill to the point where we can’t go and stand on our houses’ balcony. We want them to have mercy on us and we will be waiting for their promises.”
“He who drank the river won’t choke on the stream,” she said quoting a Lebanese proverb.
A large banner hangs at the entrance to the town of Baawerta, that sits directly south of the landfill, that read: “The Naameh Landfill to where??????”
“Let’s be reasonable,” Baawerta Mayor Ayash said. “The solutions are very clear, if we close the landfill [several] random dumps would mushroom but now the Cabinet has found the alternative.”
“Today, during our meeting with MP Jumblatt, and the ministers and the other officials, we have accepted to endure the exceptional situation because Lebanon is now in an exceptional phase.
“We won’t go to the streets on the 17th because everybody is serious about the solutions.”
Sources familiar with the issue told The Daily Star Jumblatt requested that all mayors in the affected regions hold a meeting with residents to explain the substitute solution plan to end the Naameh landfill. He also stressed that, “going to the streets will make things worse.”
Local residents remained adamant on the protest. “We have no trust in the new deadline,” a representative told Wednesday’s news conference. “We call on all Lebanese to come and support our protest on Jan. 17.”
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