President Emile Lahoud has taken the first steps toward enforcing the concept of transparency at public institutions, demanding a detailed report from the Council of the South on how it spent over LL50 billion in private donations to reverse the legacy of the Israeli occupation.
Lahoud on Thursday receiced the document, which was compiled with the help of the Finance Ministry and outlines exactly how much of LL53 billion donated by Lebanese, both here and abroad, and other nationals was spent and how.
A copy of the report was released by the Presidential Palace.
The president had urged Lebanese everywhere to make such donations for infrastructure projects and to compensate residents in the war-torn occupation zone. A special private account at the Central Bank, numbered 7000362123, was established in 1999 to facilitate donations.
Lahoud has said that the report was necessary to allow the people and institutions who had made the donations to know how the money was spent.
According to the Finance Ministry, the total amount donated to that account by March 13 stood at LL53.012 billion,
of which some LL52.906 billion had been spent.
In a statement, the council said that LL40.047 billion had been spent on lump-sums paid as compensation to homeowners for repairs on their homes and properties.
Some LL10.219 billion was spent on infrastructure projects in the South.
The council spent some LL982.5 million on the emergency removal of debris and trash in the qadas of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, and another LL997.5 million in the qadas of Nabatieh and Jezzine.
Some LL4.014 billion was spent on emergency repairs to the water network in the qadas of Tyre and Bint Jbeil, and LL2.081 billion in the qadas of Jezzine and Sidon.
The council spent LL910.691 million on emergency electrical power works in Tyre and Bint Jbeil, and LL897.779 million for the same purpose in Jezzine, Nabatieh and Sidon.
Another LL176.607 million was spent on an artesian well in Bint Jbeil, where a local school also received LL158.029 million to rehabilitate its theater.
Marjayoun received the lion’s share (LL20.490 billion) of lump sums paid to individual home-owners for repairs to their properties, followed by Bint Jbeil (LL5.50 billion), Tyre (LL4.131 billion) and Hasbaya (LL3.476 billion).
Some LL2.476 billion was spent on settling rental fees for properties occupied by the UNIFIL forces in accordance with decree 4281, dated Oct. 31, 2000.
Another LL430.5 million was transferred to Electricite du Liban in compliance with Decree No. 3482 of July 20, 2000.
At present, LL106.663 million remains in the account.

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