Five wastewater plants on the go

$425 million funding secured

Four wastewater treatment plants in Tripoli, Batroun, Chekka, and Nabi Youness will be operational in Spring 2014. The overall investment in the plants’ construction reached $230 million, excluding the cost of connecting the plants to sewage networks.

Funding for these plants was provided through the European Investment Bank and the French Protocol.

The plants will serve more than one million people connected to the network, according to the National Wastewater Strategy report published by the Ministry of Energy and Water.

“Contracts have also been signed with the Italian government to construct another plant in Byblos,” said Randa Nemer, Advisor for the Wastewater Sector at the Ministry of Energy and Water. This facility will take more than two years to be completed and operational. It will serve more than 50,000 individuals.

The country suffers from the lack of wastewater treatment facilities. The only plants currently operational are located in Ghadir and Saida.

Most households in dense areas across the country are connected to the sewage network. This ratio reaches up to 90 percent in some regions, said Nemer.

The cost of constructing networks in Nabi Youness is $22 million and $130 million in Tripoli. The cost of networks in Chekka and Batroun totaled $43 million.