The “Saida Faces” initiative was not digested after the company’s decision to stop collecting and transporting waste from the city’s streets and neighborhoods, before the expiry of its contract, in reference to the withdrawal of political coverage after the judicial position expressed by the southern appeal prosecutor, judge Raheef Ramadan (also in his capacity as environmental prosecutor), that “the law requires the contracting company to fully carry out its duty”.
As the political situation meets the judicial one, in the search for practical and quick solutions to put an end to the problem of the accumulation of waste in neighbourhoods, streets and near schools, hospitals, clinics and vegetable carts, 3 novelties have emerged:
– The first: what “Nidaa Al-Watan” has learned is that the “Saida Faces” initiative, which includes representatives of the main Sidonian political forces, MPs Abd al-Rahman al-Bizri and Osama Saad, the former deputy Bahia Hariri, Bassam Hammoud, and Mayor Muhammad al-Saudi will visit interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati this afternoon at the Serail The government will transfer the city’s unified stance on the need for the state to take the lead in paying financial dues to municipalities and their federations, even if exceptions are requested in response.
Responsible sources told “Nidaa Al-Watan” that the upcoming meeting with Mikati is the last ray of hope to get out of the dark tunnel, because the worsening waste problem in the city will lead to an indispensable health and environmental disaster. increasing citizens’ concerns in the light of the worsening economic crisis.
The second: an emergency meeting was held for the “Saida Faces” initiative, at the invitation of the Saudi, in the town hall building, Al-Bizri was absent for pre-established dates, the contract signed with the company obliges it to perform in any case this task, considering that this matter is completely separate from the question of the company’s debts with the State, and that the company’s problem is not with the Municipality but with the State.
The participants’ sources confirmed to “Nidaa Al-Watan” that there is great dissatisfaction with the contractor firm, and questions about why the problem does not occur with other municipalities, and stressed the need for the contractor firm (especially before of the end of his contract at the end of this year) to take the initiative to remove waste and clean the streets, regardless of any financial dispute with the Union of Municipalities or the state’s delay in paying the financial dues of the company, and the company cannot in any way, even after the expiry of the contract, cease to perform its functions before having obtained a replacement, under penalty of liability. They have kept their meetings open until this crisis is addressed. While Al-Saudi indicated that “those gathered showed their understanding of the difficult financial conditions in which the contractor works and their desire to work to secure his arrears with the state.”
Third: NTCC hastened to issue a statement to the Sidonian public a few hours after the meeting of the members of the initiative, in which it reaffirms that the contract signed between it and the Union of Municipalities of Sidon – Al-Zahrani for the collection and union waste transportation ends 12/31/2022 and that you will not be responsible for federation waste collection and removal as of 01/01/2023, but will remove waste during the period remaining according to the capacities available and that if a municipality or an organization wishes to collect and transport its waste, the company is ready to do so, provided that the financing and the landfill are guaranteed.
The company said in its statement that the city has suffered as much as it has suffered from waste in the past two years, and this is certainly due to two reasons: first, the irregular work in the waste treatment center frequently, both by striking the workers who stopping it due to maintenance or change of waste reception times, which led to the irregularity of the collection process, the other reason is the non-payment of our debts as a company, which led to the lack of liquidity also necessary for the purchase of fuel, and therefore the cessation or delay in waste collection (and this matter was absolutely beyond the control of the company and was never the object of “extortion” or “retribution from people “).
The company confirmed that it has not received any amount of its dues related to the waste collection obligation in the Federation of Municipalities of Saida Al-Zahrani since 02/20/2019, not to mention its dues from other municipalities and unions. late payment of dues, the requested amounts have lost their value with the collapse of the exchange rate of the national currency and dues, it is no longer sufficient to pay the company’s obligations, whether they are towards employees, workers, suppliers, the National Social Security Fund and creditor banks.
