Report: Cabinet Convenes Tuesday to Tackle Trash File
The government is expected to hold a session next week to address the ongoing garbage disposal crisis, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.
Ministerial sources said that the session will be held on Tuesday “unless there are surprises in store on Sunday.”
“Should the cabinet not be held for some reason, then Prime Minister Tammam Salam will announce that the government can no longer remain a victim of whims,” they added.
This is a position that he had announced during the most recent national dialogue session, clarified the sources.
Lebanon plunged in a waste disposal crisis following the closure of the Naameh landfill in July, which led to the pile up of trash on the streets throughout the country.
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb recently launched an initiative to end the crisis, which the cabinet is hoping to tackle on Tuesday.
Government work has been obstructed over the contentious issue of the security appointments and promotions.
Change and Reform bloc ministers have been boycotting cabinet sessions over a dispute on its decision-making mechanism.
The head of the bloc MP Michel Aoun announced that the ministers will continue on boycotting sessions, even ones tackling the trash crisis, despite the lawmaker’s support of Shehayyeb’s proposal.
Aoun had been lobbying for the appointment of outgoing Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army commander.
But Roukoz reached the age of retirement on Thursday after the failure of a proposed settlement that would have kept him in the military and made him eligible to lead the institution in the future.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/192186-report-cabinet-convenes-tuesday-to-tackle-trash-file
——————–
Report: Finishing Touches to Shehayyeb’s Waste Plan to Be Placed Wednesday
Report: Finishing Touches to Shehayyeb’s Waste Plan to Be Placed Wednesday
by Naharnet Newsdesk 3 days ago
Comment
10
W460
Joint efforts by Hizbullah and the AMAL movement have led to an agreement over two sites for possible landfills to be used according to Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb’s waste disposal plan, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s sources told the daily that technical, geological, and environment experts are expected to visit the two sites later on Wednesday to determine their illegibility.
Only one of the sites will be used for a Bekaa landfill, while the other one will be established in Srar in Akkar, explained the daily.
Shehayyeb is keen to keep these Bekaa locations secret until the right moment, added al-Joumhouria given the objections of locals of various regions to allow their land to be used for garbage disposal.
A meeting was held on Tuesday between Salam, Shehayyeb, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and concerned officials to follow up on the waste disposal crisis and efforts to resolve it.
The officials and experts will hold a “final meeting” on Thursday to take a stand on the issue.
“A cabinet session will be called to session based on their findings and to introduce any amendments to Shehayyeb’s proposal,” said al-Joumhouria.
Shehayyeb had announced on Tuesday that a landfill will be established in al-Bekaa after the necessary geological studies had been made.
He stressed that it will be a sanitary landfill that will hold the waste of nearby areas, as well as those of Beirut and its suburbs.
Lebanon was plunged in a waste disposal crisis following the July 17 closure of the Naameh landfill, which resulted in garbage piling up on the streets.
Numerous proposals had been made by officials to dump the trash in various landfills throughout Lebanon, but they were met with rejection by local residents of those areas.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/191936-report-finishing-touches-to-shehayyeb-s-waste-plan-to-be-placed-wednesday
————————
Report: Cabinet to Convene Friday to Adopt Shehayyeb’s Trash Plan amid FPM Boycott
Cabinet is expected to convene on Friday to adopt Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb’s waste disposal plan, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Wednesday.
Ministerial sources said: “The session will be its last due to the obstruction of the Free Patriotic Movement.”
FPM chief MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that his ministers will not attend a cabinet meeting aimed at addressing the waste crisis due to his objection to the failure to tackle the contentious issue of security promotions and appointments.
Other sources meanwhile told al-Mustaqbal that Hizbullah Ministers Mohammed Fneish and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan are expected to attend Friday’s session.
The party had informed concerned officials that FPM Ministers Jebran Bassil and Elias Bou Saab will be boycotting the meeting.
Shehayyeb had held talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on the trash crisis.
Aoun’s insistence to have his son-in-law, Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, appointed as army commander has stalled the government and left it paralyzed as his ministers have boycotted the cabinet sessions.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/191935-report-cabinet-to-convene-friday-to-adopt-shehayyeb-s-trash-plan-amid-fpm-boycott