Billions owed, licenses frozen: Lebanon’s cement crisis deepens

Is another Cabinet showdown on the horizon? Amid a months-long halt in cement production, several ministers are reportedly lobbying to suspend — or even repeal — a government decision from last May that effectively shut down quarries operated by Lebanon’s three main cement companies: Holcim Lebanon, Cimenterie Nationale, and Ciments de Sibline, according to ministerial sources who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour.On May 2, the government, at the request of the Environment Ministry, canceled a decision made by the previous Cabinet on Dec. 4, 2024, which had given the cement factories in Chekka an exceptional two-year extension to operate their quarries in the same area.The suspension of these licenses stems from environmental violations and operations, in some cases, outside the zones authorized by the master quarry plan. The government then...