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Kerkorian To Build More Schools In Armenia

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  • Kerkorian To Build More Schools In Armenia

    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
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