Reconstruction of the Beirut Central District (1984-1986)
1986
Synthesis document produced in the frame of the firm Oger-Liban in the beginning of 1986 on the reconstruction of Beirut Central District and kept confidential until now.
At that time, continuing the detailed studies and the field works had become impossible because of the deterioration of the security situation and the crumbling down of the state structure.
The document was produced to summarize and to preserve the amount of work produced by several teams of urban planners, architects, engineers and economists over more than three years so as to avoid their loss and the blurring of its main orientations.
The report presents the functional programming options for the Central District in relation with the idea of “recentering and reuniting the city”, it explicitly envisages for the first time the different legal structures available for the realization of designed objective and presents a detailed quantification and programming of the first phase as well as several scenarios for the further development.
Its reading is especially relevant in the perspective of comparing its programmatic and structuring proposals with what has become “Solidere”.
- 156p. (in french)
Republic of Lebanon, Poverty review
A World Bank Document
September 2000
This document was prepared by the CRI (Consultation and Research Institute sarl) with the World Bank ; it constitutes a systematic review of poverty issues in Lebanon :
- It calculates the poverty indices on the basis of the « UBN » (Unsatisfied Basic Needs ) method,
- It analyses the macroeconomic determinants of poverty
- It assesses the anti-poverty programs
- And recommends policies
Financing urban development and municipal resources, in relation to migrations, urbanisation and poverty
ESCWA
November 2000
Research note presented to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). It aims at setting a historical and economic framework for the debate on decentralisation and on the role of the finance of local authorities in the Middle East area.
It highlights the socio-political particular features of the area both internally (segmentation) and externally (the acuteness of the renewed confrontation between “the east and the West”) as well as the specific effects of the oil rents on socioeconomic regulation.
- 30 p. (in arabic)
Stakeholder Analysis and Social Assessment for the Proposed Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Project
November 2001
Framing document prepared in collaboration with the urban planner Ms Maha Yahya and “Information International” for the CDR and the World bank, in view of implementing a loan from the WB to promote the cultural heritage of five cities in Lebanon (Tripoli, Jbeil, Saïda, Sour and Baalbeck).
The report assesses the socioeconomic situation in the concerned cities as well as their assets in terms of cultural tourism and related activities, giving special attention to the distribution of interests at stake and to the consequences of the different possible forms of intervention.
The document became the reference for the later stages of the project that is presently being implemented.
- Index (277 Ko)
- Executive Summary (195 Ko)
- Conceptual methodology (151 Ko)
- Tripoli (2.2 Mo)
- Sour (Tyre) (1.5 Mo)
- Baalbek (1.4 Mo)
- Jbeil (Byblos) (1.6 Mo)
- Saïda (Sidon) (1.8 Mo)
- Appendices (200 Ko)
Reading of the 2001 budget
December 2001
The 2001 budget is interesting because it is the first one prepared by Rafik Hariri’s team after his group won the 2000 elections against the faction led by President Lahoud and after the fierce critics against the “Financial Correction Program”. It was presented few weeks before James Wolfenson’s visit to Lebanon and his critics of the economic policies and the beginning of a creeping financial crisis that lasted until the Paris 2 Conference, in November 2002.
The budget includes, in line with the previous political announcements, fiscal cuts (tariffs and Social Security contributions) but its detailed analysis shows the strong continuity with the previous budgets and illustrates the considerable efforts devoted to accounting arrangements and financial acrobatics aiming at hiding the deficit.
- 8 p. (in arabic)
Programming and Assessment of the economic impact of the Cultural heritage Project in Jbeil-Byblos
April 2002
- Programming of intervention (140 Ko – in english)
- Economic impact assessment (100 Ko – in english)
Report written during the second phase of the Cultural Heritage Project, in association with AAA (Atelier d’Architectes Associés) for the CDR and the World Bank.
It includes the programming of the operation (that is presently being implemented) and the evaluation of its impact on the local community and economy.
The financial sector and the crisis of development
in “Globalization : Towards a Lebanese agenda”, National Human Development Report: Lebanon 2001-2002, UNDP, Beirut
July 2002
- 21 p. (in english)
- Link : On the UNDP site
Financial risks for a manager of funds in Lebanon
August 2002
The study aims at assessing the types and scales of the risks facing a manager of funds invested on the Lebanese capital market, depending on the available instruments (exchange risk, interest rate risk, liquidity and solvency risks). The different financial and monetary policies are examined with respect to their effects on the reallocation of risks, since the beginning of the nineties.
- 37 p. (in arabic)
An executive order from President Bush blocks the assets of Syrian officials
May 2004
The US President Bush issued on the 11th of March 2004 this « executive order » that, few months before the issuance of the UN Council of Security 1559, sets the regional political stage.
The political and financial mechanisms and effects of this measure are analysed in detail with the dangers they imply on the economic stability of Lebanon.
Until now, this measure does not seem to have been applied, at least visibly.
- 8 p. (in french)