Kuwaiti fund, Lebanon initial draft loan agreement

The Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and Lebanon initialed on Friday a draft loan agreement under which the Kuwaiti fund would lend Lebanon 20 million Kuwaiti Dinars (some US$ 65 million) as partial finance for the southern Litani irrigation project.

Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) reports quoting Ahmad Al-Mjelhem, in charge of dams and large ventures at the fund, that the project's first phase would cost US$ 220 million dlrs, including US$ 65 million brought by the Kuwaiti fund, and the rest to be financed by an Arab Fund and the Lebanese government.

The Litani project comprises two major sections: a network for water transfer at a height of 800 meters and the second section includes irrigation networks, refining water facilities in addition to a network that secures irrigation for 15,000 hectares of cultivated fields.