Report: Cabinet Faces New Challenges, Waste Management and Protests

The next cabinet session set to discuss the decision-making mechanism faces a number of thorny issues that need to be addressed in light of the closure of the Naameh landfill and the protests of the families of Jbeil and Hbaline stopping dump-trucks from entering the landfill, al-Anwar daily reported on Monday.

Residents of the town of Naameh south of Beirut staged on Friday a sit-in near the landfill after the last dump truck left the facility following the expiry of the deadline for its closure.

Similarly residents of Jbeil and Hbaline in the north blocked the roads on Saturday leading to the landfill protesting any decision that might emerge allowing dump trucks from outside the district to use the landfill.

Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq stressed the necessity to address the issue during Thursday's cabinet session, saying: “I will bring the subject up during the cabinet session if no one does. That does not necessarily mean that it will conceal discussions on the cabinet mechanism.”

The Naameh landfill that lies in the town of Naameh south of Beirut was closed on July 17 in accordance with a government decision.

The closure of the landfill threatens to plunge the country into a major garbage management crisis since a substitute has not been found so far.

The deadline for the closure of the landfill also coincides with the expiry of the contract with Sukleen, which is responsible for collecting and transporting the garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

A senior source at Sukleen told the Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that "the cleaning works and the management of waste have not stopped, but the warehouses of our company are filled with trash."

The source added: "The company has been trying for days to reach state officials to find a substitute for the Naameh landfill but so far we have received no feedback."

Ministerial sources of the March 14 alliance stressed that cabinet discussions should now focus on pressing matters mainly the waste management file, the country's security, the abducted Arsal soldiers and policemen and the kidnapped Czechs.

Parliamentary sources assured that “there will be no backing down on closing the Naameh landfill.”

They urged officials to take serious decisions and to force acquisition of land mainly the illegal stone crushers and convert them to landfills.

Thursday's cabinet session is set to discuss the controversial issue of the cabinet mechanism and hopes arise that the a solution for waste management might be discussed as well before the country is flooded with trash.

Ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement and its allies are adamant to discuss the mechanism and the appointment of high-ranking military and security officials before any other.