Hariri Chairs Committee Meeting on Expansion of Landfills
26 December 2017
Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday chaired the ministerial committee meeting at the Grand Serail tasked with addressing a controversial solution for waste management.
The meeting was held in the presence of Deputy PM and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani, Ministers of: State Talal Arslan, Women Affairs Jean Oghassapian, Industry Hussein Hajj Hassan, Environment Tarek Khatib, Tourism Avedis Kedanian, State Michel Pharaoun, Defense Yacoub al-Sarraf, State for Human Rights Ayman Choucair, State for Administrative Reforms Inaya Ezzeddine, Energy Cesar Abi Khalil, and Cabinet Secretary-General Fouad Fleifel and CDR Chairman Nabil al-Jisr.
VDL (93.3) radio station said that Abi Khalil presented a draft law during the meeting that paves way for municipalities to generate electricity from waste.
For his part, Hajj Hassan said discussions addressed an environment ministry’s plan to expand the two major landfills of Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud, as the two are reaching maximum capacity.
Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud landfills were opened as part of a four-year plan to resolve the waste crisis that emerged in Lebanon in April 2016, eight months after the closure of the Naameh landfill, which received garbage from Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
The two landfills are reaching maximum capacity.
Tourism minister Kedanian said that discussions will continue until the interlocutors reach a comprehensive plan for waste management. He pointed out that a suggestion to expand the landfills is “rejected.”
www.naharnet.com/stories/en/240111-hariri-chairs-committee-meeting-on-expansion-of-landfills
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Cabinet Holds Year’s Last Session, Postpones Expansion of Landfills
19 December 2017
The Cabinet on Tuesday held its last session for 2017, during which it decided to postpone a decision on expanding the Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud garbage landfills.
“There were two agenda items on waste management – the expansion of Costa Brava and composting and the general plan of waste management. The two issues were combined and a ministerial panel has been formed to study the entire topic and raise it in Cabinet’s next session, because the matter cannot bear further delay,” acting information minister Pierre Bou Assi said after the session.
“The solution for the two issues requires a transitional period to prevent the accumulation of garbage on the streets,” the minister added.
The Cabinet also decided to extend for another year the contracts of mobile network operators Zain Group (touch) and Orascom Telecom (Alfa) pending “a comprehensive national mobile network plan.”
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/239825-cabinet-holds-year-s-last-session-postpones-expansion-of-landfills
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Report: Govt to Focus on Waste Crisis as Landfills Approach Maximum Capacity
18 December 2017, 04:08
Lebanon’s waste management crisis surfaces once more as the two major landfills in the country approach maximum capacity, meanwhile the government prepares to tackle the controversial file in addition to 67 items on its agenda during its meeting on Tuesday.
A number of options are placed on the Cabinet table which include a suggestion proposed by the Council for Development and Reconstruction CDR for expanding the Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud temporary landfills, al-Liwaa daily said Monday.
Another option calls for the construction of a waste disposal plant and development of a waste sorting plant in al-Amrousieh and al-Karantina. The environment ministry has also suggested an integrated solid waste management policy, added the daily.
Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud landfills were opened as part of a four-year plan to resolve the waste crisis that emerged in Lebanon in April 2016, eight months after the closure of the Naameh landfill, which received garbage from Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
The two landfills are reaching maximum capacity.
In that regard, Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh wondered about a solution plan submitted previously by the minister of environment to use thermal decomposition, he asked: “Was there truly a plan? We will shed light on that during Tuesday’s meeting to find a solution he said.”
The waste management crisis escalated largely in 2015 across Lebanon, was a particular threat for children and old people, and constituted a rights violation.
Rivers of rubbish flooding populated areas across the country, including in central Beirut, put the spotlight on Lebanon’s waste problem but the rights group said a silent crisis had been unfolding elsewhere for years.
Early in December, Human Rights Watch warned in a report that the open burning of waste in Lebanon poses serious health risks, blaming decades-old, across the board government failure.
On another note, Hamadeh also said he will raise the issue of “non-acceptance of the credentials of new Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Yaacoub,” the daily quoted him, adding “a country like Saudi Arabia that have supported Lebanon for 70 years and hosts about 250 thousand Lebanese nationals should not be treated this way.”
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/239748-report-govt-to-focus-on-waste-crisis-as-landfills-approach-maximum-capacity