Looking to Lebanon

The Sannine Zenith project was unveiled at a Jeddah conference on January 17th, when the audience was told that the project would cover almost 100 million square meters (the size of Beirut) and be home to a population of 30,000. It will also accomodate a 3 million square meter man-made lake, 18 million square meters of ski slopes, an 18-hole golf course and five-star hotels, all financed by $1.4 billion worth of GDR. Although the project is currently 99% owned by the Lebanese Jean Abi Rached’s Al Salam Group, 18% ($252 million) of options have been subscribed to by Saudi Arabian investors. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains the largest Arab investor in Lebanon, (even though the UAE appears to contribute the most to overall Arab investments) with total documented investments for the year 2002 (the most recent figures) reaching $350 million, following a staggering 290% growth over 2001. Saudi