Lebanon receives 300 mln USD from Kuwait for rebuilding

Lebanon has received a grant of 300 million U.S. dollars from Kuwait for helping its post-war rebuilding, Lebanon's newspaper Daily Star reported Wednesday.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and the Lebanese Council of Development and Reconstruction (CDR) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to use the 300 million dollars grant offered by Kuwait to rebuild Lebanon, the report said.

It added that the grant will be used to rebuild Beirut's southern suburbs and 20 villages in the south destroyed during this summer's war with Israel and more than 7,300 people will be benefited from the package.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Kuwaiti Finance Minister Bader Mashari al-Humaidi presented in the signing ceremony held in Beirut.

Lebanon has already received pledges of 940 million dollars from the donor states that met in Stockholm on July 24.

In addition, Saudi Arabia has promised a total of 500 million dollars to Lebanon for reconstruction, while Qatar has started paying compensation to those whose homes destroyed in four villages in the south.

The CDR estimated the direct material losses of the war in Lebanon at more than 3.6 billion dollars, while the indirect losses are expected to be much more.

Siniora has said that the government will give 53,000 dollars to each owner of destroyed homes in the southern suburbs and 40,000 dollars to the residents of villages in the south and the Bekaa Valley.

The conflict between Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite group and Israel, which started on July 12 and ended on Aug. 14, had caused great destruction of infrastructure in Lebanon and the death of about 1, 200 Lebanese, most civilians.

Source: Xinhua