I remember the words of a diplomat who participated in a focus group discussion organized by our company: “ The solution lies in the implementation of existing laws,” he said.
Laws are made to be implemented and improved in order to serve society and the individual. In Lebanon and the region, laws are not adhered to. A good example of this is the issue of diesel vehicles in Lebanon.

Law no. 6810 dated June 10, 1961 prohibits the use of all diesel vehicles. This law, however, was amended by a legislative decree on June 27, 1977 allowing only public sector vehicles to operate on diesel.

On August 17, 1994, another amendment to the law was made allowing minibuses and trucks to operate on diesel. The diesel taxis which were prohibited on June 15, 2002 have been operating illegally throughout. As for the minibuses, the law has been amended again and they have ceased operating since July 15, 2002.

The interesting side of our story is not that the government allows itself to pollute the air (via its own trucks and buses) while prohibiting others, but that the amendment of the law legalizing diesel minibuses in 1994 stated that “it is demonstrated that diesel vehicles are less polluting than fuel… and that this law will allow the private sector to participate in solving the problems and provide less costly means of transport to the citizens.” At the same time, Law no. 341 dated August 9, 2001 prohibiting those same minibuses now states that this amendment is supposed to “decrease pollution”.

The ‘citizen’ now asks about ‘the scientists’ in the government who discovered that diesel is “less” of a pollutant and have rediscovered that it is “more” of a pollutant. Why does the government continue to import diesel with a high sulfur content, and why are buses of 15 passengers or more that belong to private companies (with ties to politicians) not subject to this law and continue to operate? Why should citizens be responsible for picking up the bill compensating minibus owners after the government’s faulty methods and finally, who can really tell what the exact number of genuine minibus owners who ought to be compensated is?

A slight implementation of the law has considerably improved our lives with less pollution and less traffic. A more transparent law and its full enforcement is required.

Jawad Adra