A quarry dug into the mountains near the village of AIn Dara, in July 2019. (Credit: Archive photo by Joseph Eid/AFP)
The issue came up once again during this week’s budget debate in Parliament: where are the billions of dollars in unpaid dues that the government promised to collect from quarry operators in Lebanon? The process of recovering these dues from the owners who operated for decades in complete opacity began at the end of 2024 under the previous government, based on a 2022 study by the Lebanese Army. When Tamara Elzein was appointed at the Environment Ministry in February 2025, she took over the file to correct errors before sending them for collection. Dig deeper Lebanon demands $1 billion from illegal stone quarries Nearly a year later, she spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour about the progress made.Were the collection orders sent to the quarry owners?We finalized the files of the 1,507 quarries in Lebanon and sent them to the Finance Ministry,...
The issue came up once again during this week’s budget debate in Parliament: where are the billions of dollars in unpaid dues that the government promised to collect from quarry operators in Lebanon? The process of recovering these dues from the owners who operated for decades in complete opacity began at the end of 2024 under the previous government, based on a 2022 study by the Lebanese Army. When Tamara Elzein was appointed at the Environment Ministry in February 2025, she took over the file to correct errors before sending them for collection. Dig deeper Lebanon demands $1 billion from illegal stone quarries Nearly a year later, she spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour about the progress made.Were the collection orders sent to the quarry owners?We finalized the files of the 1,507 quarries in Lebanon and sent them to the Finance...
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