Salam Mum as Waste Crisis Tests his Patience – Naharnet
Prime Minister Tammam Salam shied away over the weekend from revealing details of a plan to resolve Lebanon’s seven-month-long waste crisis after several hurdles on establishing landfills in certain areas were not removed.
Al-Liwaa daily said Monday that Salam refused to discuss with his visitors the efforts exerted by some officials to resolve the garbage management problem.
But his sources said Salam will not stand idle for long.
“On several occasions, the PM, pulled the country out of paralysis so that it does not fall prey to more divisions,” they said. “But Salam’s patience has limits.”
Last week, the premier warned that he would not call for a new cabinet session if the waste management plan is not ready for implementation.
The trash crisis erupted when the Naameh landfill, which received the waste of Beirut and the heavily-populated Mount Lebanon, was closed in July.
Since then, garbage began piling up on the streets and in makeshift dump sites.
A few municipalities have launched their own recycling initiatives, but many others are simply resorting to burning their garbage, often in residential areas.
Among the proposals to resolve the crisis are resorting to the Costa Brava landfill in Khaldeh and reactivating the Bourj Hammoud dump.
While the local officials in the two areas have shown readiness to accept the scheme, residents are rejecting a proposal to establish the landfill of Kojok that lies between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Iqlim al-Kharroub.
But according to As Safir newspaper, al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat are exerting efforts to remove the obstacle.
“If the veto on the Kojok landfill is not dropped, then there would be no possibility to implement the plan in other areas,” said the daily.
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb, who is a PSP official, told As Safir that all sides should participate in the decision to choose the location of landfills “out of the conviction that sanitary landfills are better than having makeshift dumps.”
He said that some officials have shown cooperation, hoping that their goodwill will be interpreted to practical solutions.
G.K.
D.A.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/203926-salam-mum-as-waste-crisis-tests-his-patience
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Jumblat: There are No Plans to Establish Landfill in Iqlim al-Kharroub -NAHARNET
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat called on Monday for an end to various “accusations” and rumors over plans on the alleged establishment of a landfill in the Chouf region of Iqlim al-Kharroub.
He said via Twitter: “There are no plans to set up a dump in Iqlim al-Kharroub.”
A waste disposal crisis erupted in the country in July 2015 with the closure of the Naameh landfill and officials’ failure to find an alternative for it.
Recent efforts to resolve the crisis include resorting to the Costa Brava landfill in Khaldeh and reactivating the Bourj Hammoud dump.
While the local officials in the two areas have shown readiness to accept the scheme, residents are rejecting a proposal to establish the landfill of Kojok that lies between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Iqlim al-Kharroub.
The months-long crisis has seen garbage pile up on streets throughout the country as experts warned of the health and environmental hazards of the problem.
M.T.
Y.R.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/203968-jumblat-there-are-no-plans-to-establish-landfill-in-iqlim-al-kharroub
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Doctors, Medical Professionals Alarmed by Trash Crisis Impact – NAHARNET
Lebanon’s trash collection crisis, which sent thousands protesting into the streets last summer, is now in its eight month with still no resolution in sight. Though it has prompted political debates and occasional heated discussions, Lebanese doctors and medical professionals are increasingly alarmed by its effect on health.
At the emergency room at the Sacre Coeur hospital outside Beirut, doctors say they are seeing a spike in severe respiratory diseases and that it’s tied to the ongoing trash disaster.
The collection crisis erupted last July after authorities closed the primary landfill for Beirut and Mount Lebanon without providing an alternative. Thousands took to the streets and the demonstrations were a catharsis of discontent directed at the political class, which has walled itself off from popular opinion and failed to provide other basic services such as water, electricity and drainage.
But the protests died down and politicians have been in no hurry to solve the disaster. Politicians have instead been occupied with containing the fallout of an abrupt Saudi Arabian decision to cancel $4 billion in aid, most of it marked for the army.
It’s not just Sacre Coeur that is under strain — hospital beds across Beirut have been full this winter, partly because of a panic over swine flu, which Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said took four lives through mid-February, but doctors say more patients are coming in because of the garbage.
“We’re seeing new profiles in the emergency rooms this year,” said Joelle Khadra-Eid, an ER doctor at Sacre Coeur. “These are people who didn’t have asthma or allergies when they were young. They’ve been exposed to … pollution that wasn’t around before.”
Beirut streets are kept relatively garbage-free — which has helped pacify the public — and the trash is being pushed to the city’s periphery, where it piles up along the roadside and the banks of the Beirut River.
“In some cases, they start burning the trash, and then we see widespread breathing difficulties and skin infections,” said Rachid Rahme, the director of Sacre Coeur’s emergency and critical care units.
In the suburb of Jdeideh, to Beirut’s east, local officials closed a winding road to create a rivulet of garbage, stuffed into large white sacks, which snakes down the hill. After a local newspaper published a photo, residents joked that it must be one of the country’s much-hyped ski slopes, and the international press flocked to the vista.
But the international exposure hasn’t shamed politicians into action yet. More than once, government ministers announced an imminent solution to crisis, which never materialized, and now there is talk of dissolving Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s government.
On Thursday, Salam told his Cabinet that “there is no need for the government to stay” if it can’t resolve this crisis, Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said.
A few municipalities launched their own recycling initiatives, but many others simply resorted to burning their garbage, often in residential areas. Air contamination in these areas became more than 400 times worse than pollution in the country’s industrial areas, a study by the American University of Beirut revealed last year.
In December, six months into the crisis, Rahme said cases of gastroenteritis had already gone up 30 percent, compared to 2014, the year before the trash crisis.
Most recently, Rahme said admissions rates at Sacre Coeur’s ER have jumped 25 percent, and routine symptoms are growing more severe.
It’s too early for any firm statistics on if and how the spikes in illnesses have affected mortality rates, but the trend is alarming, doctors say.
“We’re facing a huge outbreak in persistent infections, either in the respiratory system, where viral infections can linger on for six weeks or more, or in the gastrointestinal tract,” he said.
“We are seeing diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain that go on for three to four weeks,” he added.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/203765-doctors-medical-professionals-alarmed-by-trash-crisis-impact—————-
Decentralization Plan to Resolve Waste Crisis on Right Track – NAHARNET
A ministerial committee tasked with resolving the country’s seven-month-long waste crisis has agreed on the establishment of several landfills, ministerial sources have said.
Discussions are now focusing to secure consensus on the Kojok landfill in Iqlim al-Kharroub, the sources told several local dailies published on Friday.
The other landfills are in Bourj Hammoud and the so-called Costa Brava in Khaldeh, they said.
But As Safir daily said that Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat has stressed he is not in favor of establishing a landfill in Iqlim al-Kharroub, where he has strong influence.
Tashnag leader MP Hagop Pakradounian also denied that his party has approved to open the landfill of Bourj Hammoud.
He said the Tashnag was waiting for a clear description from the authorities on how to operate the landfill before giving its green light.
There are also efforts to reopen the Naameh landfill to dump the waste that has accumulated on the streets and makeshift dumps since its closure in July last year.
The waste crisis emerged after Naameh, which used to receive the waste of Beirut and heavily-populated Mount Lebanon, was shut down.
The government approved a decentralization plan in November. But it then dropped the issue in favor of an export plan.
The export scheme failed last month when the authorities discovered that the firm, which was tasked with dealing with the issue, had forged the documents to export the waste to Russia.
After that scandal, the government decided to go back to the decentralization plan by offering financial resources to the residents and municipalities of areas where the landfills will be located.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam warned cabinet ministers on Thursday that he would not call for a cabinet session next week if the country’s waste problem is not resolved soon.
Salam denied that he would suspend cabinet sessions, telling ministers the situation is “much worse than that,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said in his press briefing.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/203712-decentralization-plan-to-resolve-waste-crisis-on-right-track
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Salam Issues Stiff Warning on Waste Crisis – NAHARNET
Prime Minister Tammam Salam warned cabinet ministers on Thursday that he would not call for a cabinet session next week if the country’s seven-month-long waste problem is not resolved soon.
Salam denied that he would suspend cabinet sessions, telling ministers the situation is “much worse than that,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said in his press briefing.
The PM spoke at the start of the session that he chaired at the Grand Serail.
A ministerial committee has been holding meetings since the cabinet decided last month to end an export plan and instead focus on decentralization.
The export scheme to Russia was dropped after a scandal that the company tasked with dealing with the issue had forged the documents.
The committee is now mulling where to dump the waste of Beirut and heavily-populated Mount Lebanon.
The garbage crisis erupted when the country’s largest landfill, which used to receive the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, was closed in July last year.
G.K.
M.T.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/203661-salam-issues-stiff-warning-on-waste-crisis
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