On the eastern border of Barr Elias, not far from Zahleh, is the largest wastewater treatment plant in the Bekaa Valley.Right next to the local landfill and a stone's throw from the Litani River and its tributary, the Berdawni River, it was built thanks to an Italian soft loan of more than 22 million euros granted to Lebanon. The complex have been operational since October 2017. It treats wastewater from more than 100,000 inhabitants of the region, which can then be used to irrigate the surrounding agricultural land, as far as Lake Qaraoun, further south.  The operation of the station, managed by private operators – Suez Trattamento Acque SpA, then Butec – has been financed until now by Italy via the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and to a lesser extent by the World Bank, while waiting for the Lebanese state to take over control.  But this has yet to happen, while the last euros granted by the Italian government have been spent to finance the operation of the infrastructure and the Butec contract is about to expire.   An anonymous source warns of financial and environmental consequences in case no solution is applied. However, negotiations to try to resolve the situation before the end of the month are underway, according to a second source. Time had not been in favor during the recent conflict– which began in October 2023 and has been suspended since Nov. 27 by a cease-fire .  Consequently, if the station is shut down, the situation will be worse than before. Within the station, the prevailing feeling is that the Italian government has already gone far beyond what could have been expected of it by funding the project for seven years. With the latter having decided to withdraw, the Water Board should have already sent personnel for at least a month to ensure the transfer is carried out properly, but for the moment, no one has yet come. The Butec teams will, for their part, be forced to leave the premises on the evening of Dec. 31, both for reasons of contractual liability and financing.  The caretaker energy and water minister did not respond to requests for clarification, nor did the director of the Bekaa Water Office.  Italy already lent over 22.3 million euros to finance the construction of the station and its operation beyond the one year initially planned before the transfer. Rome also made an exceptional donation of an additional four million euros in 2022 to allow the station to continue operating, given the state's inability to support it. The country was then going through a serious multidimensional crisis that erupted at the end of 2019 and was still healing the wounds of the devastating explosion of Aug. 4, 2020, which devastated Beirut. The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the UNDP have insisted to the Lebanese authorities "at the highest level" that the matter be taken seriously, and an awareness campaign has been organized in Zahleh in collaboration with the city's municipality.  "But to date, no comprehensive, long-term solution has been proposed. During the last project steering committee on Dec. 12, the Ministry of Energy informed the other stakeholders that no funds had been allocated for the operation and maintenance of the station in the draft budget for 2025 ," the source stated.  The Italian embassy said that the country is considering a solution to save the station for another two or three years with a final exceptional financing which "would mobilize five million euros already transferred to the Central Bank (BDL) by the Italian Ministry of the Environment for a different project" frozen since 2019, without ever having started.  For Italy to activate this plan, the BDL would have to commit in writing to disburse these funds in "fresh dollars." The caretaker energy minister would also have to commit in writing to guarantee the continuous supply of electricity to the station for the duration of the next assistance project and to cover the financing for a six-month transition period.   (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: L'Orient Today