Part 6 Crisis-Striken Public Services

1Public services, theoretically ensured by national and regional public agencies or delegated to private companies, have been stricken by a major crisis in Lebanon. In this mountainous and relatively water-rich country, water supply is irregular, insufficient and unequal. Despite the existence of conflicts on the border, the main reason of this is to be found in poor management on a national scale. The efficiency and costs of the projects involving the construction of dams are debated. Energy and especially electricity are other major issues. The strong dependency on hydrocarbons is reinforced by growing consumption levels and the rising number of cars, which cause high pollution levels in the cities and heighten traffic congestion. The production of electricity remains lower than the demand, which leads to shortages that are very unequally distributed and to the use of expensive alternative systems. The spectacular crisis that exploded during the summer 2015 in relation to household waste collection and treatment is the symbol of a technical failure but most of all of a shady centralized management system, vocally rejected by the Lebanese.

Figure VI-1: New water treatment plant in Nabatiyeh, at the time under construction. It has been active since 2013, but used under-capacity as the sewers have not all been completed. It was funded by a French loan and is managed by a branch of Veolia Environment (© E. Verdeil, 2009)