Mashnouq: Date for Declaring Winning Waste Management Bids Advanced to Monday
The date for announcing the winning waste management bids has been advanced from Tuesday to Monday afternoon, Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq declared on Sunday.
“At the request of Prime Minister Tammam Salam to double the efforts and speed up the announcement of the winning waste management bids … I have contacted the technical teams assessing the bids and asked them to intensify their efforts to finish their task as soon as possible,” said Mashnouq.
“Accordingly, I announce advancing the date for declaring the names of the winning firms from Tuesday evening to Monday afternoon,” the minister added.
The decision comes in the wake of violent street protests on Saturday in downtown Beirut.
In recent weeks, civil society activists have called for a comprehensive solution to Lebanon's trash crisis, which has seen piles of waste growing in Beirut and elsewhere since the country's largest landfill shut down on July 17.
But demands posted online on Sunday by the "You Stink" campaign, which has organized recent protests, called for the government's resignation and parliamentary elections after excessive force was used against demonstrators in Saturday's demo.
The winning bids were supposed to be announced on Wednesday but the declaration was postponed for “further assessment.”
Early in August, three private firms offered bids to manage Beirut’s waste without stating a clear disposing ground.
In July and following the closure of the Naameh landfill, which receives the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, an unprecedented waste management crisis erupted and continues until today.
Several regions have refused to take and bury any of the capital’s waste as a substitute for Naameh.
The developments have prompted municipalities to dump garbage randomly in forests, valleys and on river banks.
Y.R.
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