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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
After nineteen months of fighting in 1975 and 1976,
reconstruction was necessary but the prospects for reconstruction
were seemingly hopeless. The Council for Development and
Reconstruction (CDR) was founded after the war and entrusted with
preparing and implementing a comprehensive reconstruction plan. The
government gave it authority to negotiate with foreign governments
for economic assistance and to implement reconstruction projects or
authorize other government agencies to do so. Its creation was a
bold step, and the CDR worked hard to honor its mandate.
In December 1978, the CDR produced a US$7.4 billion
reconstruction plan, designed to rebuild the country's shattered
infrastructure over an 8-year period. The program was to be largely
financed by external assistance, with the government providing only
10 to 25 percent of the total. But it was not until November 1979
that the Arab states, at a summit meeting in Tunis, agreed to
furnish Lebanon with US$2 billion in aid over a 5-year period.
The CDR produced its first annual work plan, which spelled out
the program's implementation schedule. Projected spending for the
project in 1980 was just over US$296 million, well below what would
be necessary if the entire plan were to be completed within its
supposed eight-year time frame. In conformity with Arab donor state
wishes, half was earmarked for the south, divided equally between
infrastructure development (such as port, road, hospital, and
housing repairs) and social projects.
Nevertheless, the CDR was at least able to make a brisk start
on reconstruction. At the end of April 1981, it reported that about
half of the US$741 million in available funding was being used,
with 32.3 percent going for loans to the public sector, 29.1
percent designated as liquid resources for projects being
implemented, and 17.3 percent for expenditures on projects under
way.
Lebanon was receiving reconstruction aid fairly regularly in
1981, although some donors were behind in some of their
disbursements. Other international sources also provided
assistance. The United States Agency for International Development
(AID) provided approximately US$5.7 million for a variety of
projects that year, including technical assistance for the CDR,
housing repair grants, housing authority loans, and various health
projects. And as far back as October 1980, Lebanon had signed an
agreement with the United Nation International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) to carry out US$43.5 million of social projects in
the south, using reconstruction funds channeled through the CDR.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also provided around
US$4 million worth of reconstruction projects.
Data as of December 1987
A father and son make brass trays in a shop near
Tripoli
Courtesy United Nations/Photo by B. Cirone
Reconstruction and Hope, 1976-82
After nineteen months of fighting in 1975 and 1976,
reconstruction was necessary but the prospects for reconstruction
were seemingly hopeless. The Council for Development and
Reconstruction (CDR) was founded after the war and entrusted with
preparing and implementing a comprehensive reconstruction plan. The
government gave it authority to negotiate with foreign governments
for economic assistance and to implement reconstruction projects or
authorize other government agencies to do so. Its creation was a
bold step, and the CDR worked hard to honor its mandate.
In December 1978, the CDR produced a US$7.4 billion
reconstruction plan, designed to rebuild the country's shattered
infrastructure over an 8-year period. The program was to be largely
financed by external assistance, with the government providing only
10 to 25 percent of the total. But it was not until November 1979
that the Arab states, at a summit meeting in Tunis, agreed to
furnish Lebanon with US$2 billion in aid over a 5-year period.
The CDR produced its first annual work plan, which spelled out
the program's implementation schedule. Projected spending for the
project in 1980 was just over US$296 million, well below what would
be necessary if the entire plan were to be completed within its
supposed eight-year time frame. In conformity with Arab donor state
wishes, half was earmarked for the south, divided equally between
infrastructure development (such as port, road, hospital, and
housing repairs) and social projects.
Nevertheless, the CDR was at least able to make a brisk start
on reconstruction. At the end of April 1981, it reported that about
half of the US$741 million in available funding was being used,
with 32.3 percent going for loans to the public sector, 29.1
percent designated as liquid resources for projects being
implemented, and 17.3 percent for expenditures on projects under
way.
Lebanon was receiving reconstruction aid fairly regularly in
1981, although some donors were behind in some of their
disbursements. Other international sources also provided
assistance. The United States Agency for International Development
(AID) provided approximately US$5.7 million for a variety of
projects that year, including technical assistance for the CDR,
housing repair grants, housing authority loans, and various health
projects. And as far back as October 1980, Lebanon had signed an
agreement with the United Nation International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) to carry out US$43.5 million of social projects in
the south, using reconstruction funds channeled through the CDR.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also provided around
US$4 million worth of reconstruction projects.
Data as of December 1987
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