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Salt revolution to protect Anfa salteries from extinction
9-6-2017
The Lebanese environmental activist Hafez Jreij cast yesterday an open letter to the public works minister, Yousef Finianos, asking him to be consistent in disciplining repeated encroachments on public beaches, particularly in Anfa, in the North. The architect of the ‘salt revolution’ demanded a fair treatment to the town of Anfa and its salt extraction heritage through a repeal of a decision to halt investments in seawater windmills in the area. While infringements along the Lebanese seashore by restaurants, resorts and factories continue unchecked, “the environment-friendly wind turbines that do not disturb the marine eco-system or distort the beauty of the sea are barred, Jreij stated. “Your excellence, we look up to you to give us a glimmer of hope and assurance to lift the siege on wind turbines resting along the rocky shores of Anfa since hundreds and thousands of years,” Jreij implored. Since 1952, the ministry of finance decided that windmills are an investment worthy of attention, continuity and support, and has as such regulated their operation and set schedules for collecting pertinent annual fees from the industry. “The windmills have seen a golden era. And in the seventies of the past century, the surface area occupied by the turbines reached one million square meters, thus meeting in full the country’s needs of salt,” Jreij boasted. Then, imported salt was subject to proper tariffs imposed to protect domestic production, he said, adding, “today made-in-Lebanon produce is being stalled in favor of imported low-quality Egyptian salt.” The environmental campaigner went on to say, “seawater mills are way better than any marine recreational undertaking. They extract a vital consumer product bound for multiple uses and industries. Windmills are a great heritage of Lebanon and a considerable economic production.” Windmills and sea salt constitute a national wealth, Jreij maintained, wondering, why Anfa in the coastal Kura district is being deprived of its basic natural resources?. (An Nahar, June 9, 2017)
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- العربية
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