Information Minister Ramzi Jreij asserted on Friday that the contract to export Lebanon’s garbage will be signed next week as soon as the Council for Development and Reconstruction receives an original copy of the Russian consent.

“The contract to export the waste will be signed next week either on Tuesday or Wednesday after the CDR receives the original copy of the Russian approval,” Jreij told the Voice of Lebanon Radio (100.5).

On Thursday, the government reached an agreement over the funding of the months-long trash disposal crisis dedicating 50 million dollars for the process.

The funds will be referred to the CDR and will cover the first six months of the plan that will reportedly transport the trash to Russia.

According to reports, the company that won a deal to export Lebanon’s waste, Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International, has obtained Russia’s approval to take in Lebanon’s trash.

Although Russia has denied late in January the reports on its willingness to receive the garbage, Russian diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria daily that the destination might be one of the former Soviet Union countries and that Russia’s name is being caught in the process.

The waste management crisis erupted in July 2015 when the Naameh landfill that received the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon was closed.

The cabinet agreed in late 2015 to export the trash after repeated efforts to establish new landfills failed.

D.A.

G.K.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/201932-jreij-contract-to-export-garbage-to-be-inked-next-week