“Crooked groove of Big Bull”, is one of our ancient proverbs. Usually, these proverbs reflect reality, because they are said out of experience and life. Speaking of the waste crisis in Lebanon, this proverb becomes “Drilling.”
Since the current government received the waste file and the “creations”, it is moving from failure to another, and from scandal to another, carelessly. The political forces forming it are not affected by their achievements. They are not affected by Lebanon’s transformation into a landfill, as if it’s the only country in the world producing wastes. They are not even affected by the adopted solutions, with respect to the worst standards and the worst forms of quotas.
The environment is not respected at all, neither are administrative and legal standards, and the result, of course, is the government’s huge failure, and the failure of those in charge of the waste file. The result is a disaster for the environment and people.
To be fair, this file and its catastrophes are a precedent to this government, since the same reasons that prevented the Lebanese state from finding a serious way to address this issue from the beginning of the crisis, meaning ever since the early days of the “Naameh landfill” opening and setting fire to “Amrousiyye” incinerator, and the closure of Bourj Hammoud, it remained unchanged. Not only that, but the officials’ failure is taking hold more and more, knowing that they do not need any advice from any one because they actually know, but they insist that this is the “gutter of gold”, when that they are in desperate need for tin today. This explains the insistence on escaping forward, even if the price was the country’s bleeding, from its health, economy, sea, tourism, and cleanliness.
The problem is that, when officials are warned about these solutions, that cannot be passed – even if people accepted the scandals, such as reducing around 11 million dollars by the contractor, just by erasing the number with a pen, and when the contractor violated the law by continuing to work, but the administration did not stop him from doing that, hey laugh and mock that wastes are not returning, but the result is the picture we see today in the areas of Metn and Kesserwan.
The problem is insisting and escaping from waste treatment plants, which is the compulsory necessary phase, and the inevitable passage for all types of treatments. Although the officials are aware of that, no one has an answer why this proposal was not presented, and why the process did not advance one step today.
Today or tomorrow, one of the officials will tell us about the big effort and the transparency put into this great achievement… and some officials’ “pockets” will inflate more, and garbage will fill the streets more as well.
Congratulations to Lebanon for its government and political forces.
