961 Today

The Minister of Energy and Water, Joe Al-Saddi, made a field tour of the Nahr al-Kalb – Zekrit area, with the participation of a member of the “Strong Republic” bloc, MP Razi Al-Hajj, and representatives of the Ministries of Public Works and Development and Reconstruction, along with the mayors of the municipalities of Zekrit and Dbayeh, the mayors of the two towns, and a number of media professionals.

The tour began from the courtyard of St. Anne’s Church, where the minister and his team inspected the damage to the natural course of the river as a result of neglect, encroachments, waste, and sewage, in addition to reviewing the ongoing support walls and cleaning work.

Al-Saddi stressed that “the purpose of the visit is to follow up on the implementation of work related to cleaning and support walls, as the Ministry began work months ago and we still have a lot to accomplish.”

He explained, “The Ministry allocated funding to complete the strengthening of the walls from the 2024 and 2025 budgets, and also requested the relevant departments to expedite the implementation of treatments, especially in the areas most affected by pollution.”

Al-Saddi warned of “the phenomenon of throwing waste into the river,” saying: “During the tour, we saw pieces of household furniture, refrigerators, and refrigerators thrown into the water, and this is unacceptable. Cleaning cannot be accompanied by pollution on the other hand.”

As for the encroachments, he announced that “the Ministry has completed a complete list of them and sent it to the Ministry of Interior, and we will reconfirm them to permanently remove these encroachments because they devour a third of the river’s course.”

Regarding sanitation, Al-Saddi explained that “there is a (collecteur) network from Matn to the middle of the river, and work will be completed on it to pump water towards the Bourj Hammoud station, which is supervised by the Council for Development and Reconstruction,” noting that “the project is subject to evaluation in coordination with mayors to accelerate implementation and financing.”

For his part, Representative Razi Al-Hajj thanked Minister Al-Saddi for his “interest and response,” saying: “Today we stand at the most important archaeological landmark in Lebanon, Nahr Al-Kalb, whose rocks documented the history of the evacuation of the occupiers. It is not permissible for sewage and encroachments to remain around it that distort its image. Whoever removed the occupations is able to remove the pollution and encroachments.”

Al-Hajj concluded by stressing that “Minister Al-Sadi promised that the Lebanese would soon see Nahr Al-Kalb in its historical and touristic status that the people of Matn and Keserwan deserve.”