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Gutter cleaning begins before the first rains, announces Hamiyeh

"These efforts will be in vain if motorists do not stop throwing their trash at the side of the road," said the caretaker Minister of Transport.

Gutter cleaning begins before the first rains, announces Hamiyeh

One of the photos of trash on the side of a highway, in Khaldeh south of Beirut, shared by Minister Hamiyeh. Account X @alihamie_lb

Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh published on his X account on Monday several photos of gutters, roadsides, highways and riverbeds being cleaned in anticipation of the first autumn rains.

Waste that clogs rainwater drainage channels regularly causes massive flooding on Lebanese highways at the start of the rainy season. The financial and economic crisis that has been shaking the country for several years, having caused a drop in the profitability of contracts with the Lebanese state for private contractors in charge of waste collection, often delays garbage collection, which has worsened the floods recently. Municipalities, also facing difficulty, have been unable to fulfill their mission in this area.

Hamiyeh specified in his tweets that "the cleaning of rainwater drainage channels continues on the various highways, from Mount Lebanon to the Bekaa."

He warned, however, that "these efforts will be in vain if motorists do not stop throwing their trash at the sides of the roads, as is clear in the attached photos, taken in several regions."

Screenshot from a video about the cleaning of the Ghadir River, south of Beirut. The narrowing of the river due to encroachments is clear in the image. X account @alihamie_lb

The minister called for "a commitment from citizens to work with the authorities to mitigate the risk of flooding on the roads."

The photos shared by the minister show the worrying amount of waste, especially plastic, on the sides of Lebanese roads. The non-application of the law and government plans for waste management, combined with a clear lack of ecological awareness among citizens, regularly put Lebanon on the verge of environmental disasters.

In another tweet, the minister shared images of the cleaning of the Ghadir River (south of Beirut), which is littered with plastic waste and narrowed due to encroachments in the form of concrete buildings. This river regularly overflows and causes disasters in the region. Other rivers in the country suffer from the same problems, such as the Beirut River (where work was carried out by the Ministry of Energy after the catastrophic floods last year), or the mouth of the Nahr al-Kalb River (Keserwan), another hot spot in the event of torrential rains.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. 

Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh published on his X account on Monday several photos of gutters, roadsides, highways and riverbeds being cleaned in anticipation of the first autumn rains.Waste that clogs rainwater drainage channels regularly causes massive flooding on Lebanese highways at the start of the rainy season. The financial and economic crisis that has been...