The snow, a favorite white visitor of the Lebanese, is eagerly anticipated.
The excitement over the snowfall is however matched by worry that the same last year's events will repeat themselves, with the cut roads that leave people stranded in their cars with no state assistance.
According to what Caretaker Minister of Public Works Ali Hamieh promised, the situation will be different this year.
Hamieh informed the Lebanese of the good news of securing the maintenance of the 120 vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Works designated for lifting snow and opening roads, distributed in 19 snow plowing centers across Lebanon. According to the minister, all of these vehicles were inoperable and have not been maintained since 2019.
But how did Hamieh manage to fund the upkeep of these vehicles with a budget of no more than 300 million pounds allotted for maintaining the vehicles from the Ministry's budget, i.e., no more than 7,000 US dollars, when these vehicles require about USD 170,000 for their upkeep?
The government obviously lacks the funds in US dollars to pay for these costs. Faced with this reality, a businessman who is an expatriate living in the US donated the entire cost of maintaining the snow plowing equipment, noting that the donations went directly to the service providers rather than the Ministry.
Snowstorm road emergencies can't be resolved by using vehicles only as these vehicles require diesel fuel, and roads need salt to melt snow.
Hamieh announced that the funds necessary to secure these materials were provided from the state treasury. As for the daily workers in the snow plowing centers, they were included in the social assistance.
After solving all these problems, the issue of road lighting remains, which is a joint responsibility of the Ministries of Works and Energy, so what would be the solution?
There is no question that the state administrations are in charge of keeping the roads safe and shielding citizens from any threats to their safety on mountainous roads during storms.
However, citizens have a primary responsibility and should refrain from driving on roads closed by snowfall if their vehicles are not prepared.
In conclusion, despite all of its problems, Lebanon is still prepared to welcome visitors, and today Faraya is ready to do so.