Kerkorian Unveils New Aid Package for Armenia

Radio Free Europe 09/07/2005 08:59

Kirk Kerkorian, a prominent U.S. billionaire of Armenian descent, announced on Friday that he will donate $60 million to finance more infrastructure projects in Armenia.

Kerkorian’s charity, the Lincy Foundation, said the money will be spent on the renovation of rundown schools and the repair of more highways and major streets in the capital Yerevan.
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The Lincy Foundation spent $150 million on those infrastructure projects between 2001 and 2004. Much of the money went to pay for the repair and construction of 430 kilometers of major highways, five bridges, two tunnels as well as 3,674 new apartments in Armenia’s northern regions still reeling from the 1988 earthquake.

In addition, Lincy has contributed $20 million in loans to Armenian businesses as well as half of the funding for the construction in the late 1990s of a road linking Armenia and Karabakh. Kerkorian has thus been Armenia’s single largest Diaspora donor.
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