Change and Reform: Jannah Dam Project Won't Stop, 4th Basin File 'Suspicious'
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday condemned the suspension of construction works at the Jannah Dam in the Nahr Ibrahim region, rejecting what it called “the encroachment on people's rights.”
“The decision to stop the construction works was political par excellence,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting in Rabieh.
The Lebanon Eco Movement had on December 30 filed an appeal with the Shura Council, one of the highest judicial authorities in Lebanon, demanding the suspension of construction works due to the dam's “negative environmental repercussions.” The movement cited two previous decisions by the Ministry of Environment that were taken in 2014.
But the Shura Council dismissed the appeal on January 22 over what it called “the non-seriousness of the filed appeal.” However, Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb issued a decision on Wednesday, demanding another suspension of the project pending “a new environmental impact assessment” by the ministries of energy and water and environment.
The project is aimed at providing water for the regions of Keserwan, Jbeil and Beirut.
“This is a shameful game,” the Change and Reform bloc said in its statement.
"The Jannah Dam project will not stop and we cannot be defeated because we are the state and we're seeking to build the state," the bloc added.
The state's "deterioration and the prioritization of partisan and malicious interests will push us to escalation over this issue and other issues," Change and Reform warned.
“Enough with encroaching on people's rights and the issue has to do with Lebanon's higher interest. It is a national shame that will not be accepted by any free citizen,” the bloc went on to say.
Separately, Change and Reform described as “good” the solution reached for the Casino du Liban crisis, noting that the settlement “was overseen by Rabieh and what's needed is to carry on with it.”
As for the controversial issue of shutting down Beirut Port's fourth basin, the bloc noted that “the issue goes beyond filling a basin at the port.”
“Where is the financial monitoring of income and is it acceptable for any institution to progress at the expense of the treasury?” it asked.
“The cabinet urgently needs to take charge of the entire suspicious file and its details, knowing that Article 8 of the tax law stipulates that any tax must preserve the rights of the treasury, so where are these rights in the current situation?” the bloc added.
Earlier in the day, the truckers syndicate at Beirut Port announced the suspension of an open-ended strike.
The syndicate argues that the filling of the basin would end the role of Beirut Port and would harm the economy.
The project will give more space to store containers. But there are fears that transforming the Port of Beirut into a transshipment hub would direct large vessels to the Port of Tripoli because the fourth basin will no longer be able to accept big cargo ships.
This will allegedly cause hundreds of Beirut Port employees, mostly truckers, to lose their jobs.
Y.R.
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