UNDP CEDRO supports host communities

CEDRO, a joint energy efficiency program, is finishing up two projects to support host communities through sustainable energy. The $1.4 million projects are funded by the government of Germany through the Lebanon Recovery Fund, a multi-donor fund supported by the United Nations.

The first project is to supply 600 units of stoves and 1,600 tons of imported briquettes to the villages of Bekaa and Akkar. Briquettes are sustainable heating substitutes for coal and charcoal. They are a biomass made of forest residues.

“The selected list of villages was a combined effort between the Ministry of Social Affairs and the municipalities,” said Hassan Harajli, CEDRO Project Manager. CEDRO is in charge of procurement and project management. Local Solarnet won the tender to supply these materials.

The second project is to supply 600 units of household solar lighting systems. Local Al Bina Group won the tender for their installation.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched CEDRO (the Country Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program) in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Ministry of Finance and the Council for Development and Reconstruction, in 2007. The program has since been renewed four times.

Harajli said that the municipalities of Bkassine in the South and Indakt in the North donated land to establish two briquette manufacturing facilities. The two facilities will be operated by the municipalities to produce wood logs made of forest residues.