This OpEd is written by Jamal Saghir, and was published in The Daily Star.
In the last few weeks, the World Bank Group and the International Development community in Lebanon issued three important reports.
Immediately after the massive blast that rocked the port of Beirut on August 4, the World Bank Group in cooperation with the United Nations and the European Union (EU) launched a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment to assess the impact on the population, physical assets, infrastructure and service delivery. They estimated damages in order of US$3.8-4.6 billion, with housing and culture sectors most severely affected and losses around US$2.9-3.5 billion, with housing being the most hit followed by transport and culture. Priority Recovery and Reconstruction needs were estimated around US$ 2.0 billion, with transport needs highest followed by culture and housing.
This was followed by an excellent report in cooperation with civil society on Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework in cooperation with civil society. The action plan and road map to lift back Lebanon presented a set of sequenced and targeted reforms that support recovery and reconstruction in key sectors.
Read the full OpEd
here.