Efforts Continue to Salvage Waste Plan

Efforts to find a new landfill in the eastern area of Bekaa continue following the concealed threats of Prime Minister Tammam Salam that he would resign if a solution for the thorny file was not found.

“Everyone has sensed the seriousness of the PM on his will to resign if new landfill locations are not found in Bekaa,” unnamed Ministerial sources told the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

“This is why the officials have chosen not to postpone Monday’s national dialogue session even if some parties fail to attend,” they added on condition of anonymity.

“The promises made by several politicians regarding the trash file went in vain so far and there are no serious intentions,” they added.

On the other hand, ministerial sources told al-Nabaa daily that the stalemate in the trash plan have shown that "the government is captive to the approval of Hizbullah on setting a landfill in north Bekaa."

A trash management crisis erupted in July when the largest landfill that receives the trash of Beirut and Mount Lebanon was closed.

The government approved in September a trash plan that called for waste management to be turned over to municipalities in 18 months, the temporary expansion of two landfills and the reopening for seven days of the Naameh dump south of Beirut.

However the implementation of the plan faced wide rejections of residents and municipalities from outside the capital who refuse to receive the trash other than their regions.

Early this week Salam has warned that he would take the necessary action if the controversial file was not solved.