Municipality of Ghobeiri logo. (Credit: Ghobeiri municipality's facebook page)
BEIRUT — The Ghobeiri municipality in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday announced it will stop all operations starting Friday until it receives its dues from the Golf Club of Lebanon, a golf club located in its area of jurisdiction.
The head of the municipality, Maen Khalil, told L'Orient Today on Thursday that the move comes after employees of the municipality were allegedly attacked after trying to collect payments from the golf club. He also said that employees were arrested, before being released on Thursday. Khalil added that the payments, which have been piling up since 2017, add up to LL18 billion.
Khalil said all operations will stop on Friday: this includes municipality police, payments, administration and cleaning.
Internal Security Forces and Gulf Club of Lebanon could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last week the municipality of Jdeideh officially became inoperative after 11 of its members resigned. By default, the mohafiz (governor) is now considered in charge of the municipality's operations.
In April, Parliament extended the terms of municipalities across Lebanon, a decision that is being challenged in court by multiple opposition blocs. The extension of the current municipality mandates comes despite the fact that multiple municipalities are vacant and defunct. A source from the Interior Ministry told L'Orient-Le Jour that a total of 110 municipal councils out of 1,057 have resigned since the beginning of the crisis in Lebanon. In other words, more than 10 percent of municipalities are currently inoperative.
The head of the municipality, Maen Khalil, told L'Orient Today on Thursday that the move comes after employees of the municipality were allegedly attacked...