With the U.S. due to contribute more than 20 million dollars to reconstruct the Mdeirej bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway, Iran has offered three million dollars to rebuild 17 bridges.
Direct material damage to housing and infrastructure in Lebanon during Israel's 34-day war with the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in July-August 2006 has been put at 3.6 billion dollars.
About 20 bridges were totally destroyed and some 70 others damaged.
Almost six months after the war ended on August 14 with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, a total of 21 bridges have been repaired. Several more are under reconstruction and another 10 are awaiting the start of rebuilding work.
"It is a very delicate situation, because some of the targeted bridges are vital roadways for local and international transport on the Beirut-Damascus road," said Elias Helou, the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) state official in charge of the bridge-rebuilding project.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is financing the reconstruction of the Mdeirej bridge, the highest in the Middle East.
The 70-meter-high bridge was hit on July 21 in the early days of Israel's onslaught against Hizbullah. A 220-meter-long section was destroyed.
"Its rehabilitation will take about two and a half years and will cost more than 20 million dollars," said Helou, adding that a U.S. firm will reconstruct the bridge originally built in 1998 at a cost of 56 million dollars.
For the more modest amount of three million dollars, Iran is due to pay for work on 17 bridges, mostly in southern Lebanon but also in the east and north of the country.
Figures were unavailable for other donors helping to finance the rebuilding of Lebanon's bridges; these include Saudi Arabia, Italy and Greece as well as Lebanese individuals and companies.
Among the local donors is the family of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri which has pledged to rebuild 22 bridges.
The Casino Du Liban has offered three million dollars to fund the rebuilding of a bridge north of Beirut, with the work being undertaken by French firm Fressynet International and a Lebanese partner.
Immediately after the war, Lebanese authorities, with the help of France, Britain and Russia, installed temporary metal bridges to help restore traffic access across the country.(AFP-Naharnet) (AFP photo shows snow covering the Mdeirej bridge)
Beirut, 08 Feb 07, 11:34
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