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KERKORIAN TO BUILD MORE SCHOOLS IN ARMENIA
Asbarez
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Kirk Kerkorian, a U.S. billionaire of Armenian
descent, will provide $12 million for building and refurbishing
more schools in Armenia, a Yerevan-based representative of his Lincy
Foundation said on Wednesday.
The Nevada-based charity has already spent $22 million on financing
the first phase of a school infrastructure project launched by it in
2007. Ten public schools in Yerevan and other parts of the country
were reconstructed or built from scratch by the end of last year.
According to Hrayr Sargsian, the head of the project implementation
unit in Yerevan, the fresh Lincy funding will be channeled into six
schools in the northern Shirak and Lori regions.
"We started the works one month ago and, naturally, will not be
able to finish them in time for the start of the new academic year
[in September,]" Sargsian told a news conference. "According to the
construction schedule, they will take between 12 and 16 months."
Sargsian said Lincy had planned to set aside nearly twice as much for
the second phase of the scheme but eventually cut the sum because of
the global economic crisis. But he said the charity may still increase
it later on.
The Lincy executive estimated that about half of Armenia's 1,400 or
so secondary schools are in need of capital repairs. Some of them
are being renovated by the Armenian government.
Kerkorian, 93, is Armenia's largest Diaspora benefactor, having
donated, through the Lincy Foundation, at least $240 million since
its independence. The bulk of the money has been allocated and spent
since 2001 on various infrastructure projects.
Those included the repair of 420 kilometers of major highways and
the construction of 3,700 new apartments in Shirak and Lori. The two
regions were devastated by a catastrophic earthquake that hit Armenia
in 1988.
Kerkorian, who ranked 41st on the "Forbes" magazine's list of the
world's wealthiest individuals before the global recession, was given
Armenia's highest state award, the title of "national hero," during
a rare visit to Yerevan in 2004. Then President Robert Kocharian
cited the reclusive tycoon's "exceptional services" to the country
of his ancestors.
From: A. Papazian
Asbarez
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Kirk Kerkorian, a U.S. billionaire of Armenian
descent, will provide $12 million for building and refurbishing
more schools in Armenia, a Yerevan-based representative of his Lincy
Foundation said on Wednesday.
The Nevada-based charity has already spent $22 million on financing
the first phase of a school infrastructure project launched by it in
2007. Ten public schools in Yerevan and other parts of the country
were reconstructed or built from scratch by the end of last year.
According to Hrayr Sargsian, the head of the project implementation
unit in Yerevan, the fresh Lincy funding will be channeled into six
schools in the northern Shirak and Lori regions.
"We started the works one month ago and, naturally, will not be
able to finish them in time for the start of the new academic year
[in September,]" Sargsian told a news conference. "According to the
construction schedule, they will take between 12 and 16 months."
Sargsian said Lincy had planned to set aside nearly twice as much for
the second phase of the scheme but eventually cut the sum because of
the global economic crisis. But he said the charity may still increase
it later on.
The Lincy executive estimated that about half of Armenia's 1,400 or
so secondary schools are in need of capital repairs. Some of them
are being renovated by the Armenian government.
Kerkorian, 93, is Armenia's largest Diaspora benefactor, having
donated, through the Lincy Foundation, at least $240 million since
its independence. The bulk of the money has been allocated and spent
since 2001 on various infrastructure projects.
Those included the repair of 420 kilometers of major highways and
the construction of 3,700 new apartments in Shirak and Lori. The two
regions were devastated by a catastrophic earthquake that hit Armenia
in 1988.
Kerkorian, who ranked 41st on the "Forbes" magazine's list of the
world's wealthiest individuals before the global recession, was given
Armenia's highest state award, the title of "national hero," during
a rare visit to Yerevan in 2004. Then President Robert Kocharian
cited the reclusive tycoon's "exceptional services" to the country
of his ancestors.
From: A. Papazian