[1999] [2000] [2001] [2002] [2003] [2004] [2005] [2006] [2007] [2008]
July 11,
2005
Public beach director demands halt to illegal sand extraction.
Environmental groups call for right to supervise projects after presenting photos as proof
By Karine Raad
BEIRUT : The ongoing issue of illegal sand extraction was raised once more after a permit was issued for a private firm to open a channel in the sea at the port entrance of the Nahr al-Kalb Tourism Center ( Holiday Beach ). But pressure applied on government officials by the Association of Professional Divers and other environmental associations regarding the theft of sand from areas in Jiyye, Abdeh and Nahr al-Kalb led to the halting of all extraction and the confiscation of stolen sand stocks.
Rania Azar, director of the public Tropical Beach located beside Holiday Beach , called in a complaint to Environment and Development magazine's environmental emergency hotline about a decrease in the beach's sand level and the surfacing of pebbles along the beach.
According to the complaint, a mechanized extractor was being used to remove sand from outside the port entrance, perhaps unwittingly trespassing Tropical Beach 's property due to the lack of buoys marking off the area.
Azar said extraction was also happening on Sundays and official holidays, and that sand was transported from the site outside regular working hours.
The complaint included photos depicting the decrease of sand along the beach and the surfacing of pebbles, which not only muddied the water but also destroyed the public beach.
Azar submitted the same complaint to the Public Works and Transport Ministry and another, similar complaint through Environment On-line to the Environment Minister's office.
Environment On-line requested the president of the Association of Professional Divers in Lebanon , Mohammad Sareji, to personally inspect the site in question.
Sareji discovered the company's permit only allowed sand excavation "for the purpose of opening a channel and facilitating navigation for Holiday Beach ."
The permit also stipulated "all extracted materials should be hauled outside the work site depicted on the site map."
However, the site map itself consisted of nothing but a hand-drawn sketch without specific measurements or technical considerations.
The entire extraction process was documented on film and violations recorded in cooperation with the environmental group Green Line Association.
The file was referred to the Interior Minister's office by the Association of Professional Divers, with a request for all extraction work to be suspended immediately.
According to Sareji, the concerned company was allowed, by virtue of the aforementioned permit, to excavate 12,000 square meters of sand for 15 days.
However, he said the channel could easily be opened within five days by using a bulldozer installed on a raft, adding an excavator was not needed for the task.
Sareji held the directorate general of water and land transport responsible for facilitating the release of extraction permits without supervising their implementation.
Work ceased at Holiday Beach on June 30 and the extractor was moved to the back of the port, while other various equipment remains in place, causing the complainants to fear the company may be issued another permit.
Azar called for the extracted sand to be returned to the sites of Tropical Beach and neighboring beaches.
The incidents in Abdeh, Jiyye and Nahr al-Kalb prodded several environmental associations to issue a joint open letter to the Public Works and Transport Ministry demanding that future basin cleaning and channel opening projects along the Lebanese coastline only be approved provided excavated sand is returned to the sea or to beaches in need of sand.
The letter further stipulated that contractors should not be given the right to appropriate or sell excavated sand, as it is a national resource and therefore public property.
The associations called for endorsing a law giving environmental associations the right to supervise and lodge complaints with the concerned administrative and judicial authorities in the event any project violates the law or disfigures natural landmarks.
Environmental experts further cautioned against the use of sea sand in construction projects, explaining that the sand includes salt that could prove dangerous if used for building foundations.
Environment and Development magazine had published in its July issue a report on the theft of beach sand from North and South Lebanon.
The report was published with photos showing how excavated sand is often concealed by a top layer of red sand.