Environment Minister Fady Jreissati declared that the cabinet approved a draft he presented related to the work of sand quarries and rock crushers.
In a press conference, he said that as a minister, he does not have the right to grant licenses, stressing that all the licenses granted in the past are in violation of the law.
“After 40 years of chaos, I am required to respond to the environmentalists and to find a solution in 40 days,” he said, adding that there are nearly 1200 quarries in Lebanon, only one of which applied for a license and only one authorized sand quarry.
Jreissati stressed the need to activate the role of the National Council of Quarries and Crushers, to arrest those who violate the law and implement the law, noting that he will not allow any exceptions.
In the same regard, the minister pointed out that the quarries and crushers are not an invention, but a need, explaining that the problem is that, in Lebanon, they are illegal.
“The state has lost billions because of the chaos in this sector,” he said.
The minister also asked the owners of quarries and crushers to submit all the required documents, stressing that when the 90-day deadline ends, the ministry will start imposing the law by signaling the ones in violation.