President Emile Lahoud officially inaugurated the long-awaited Chabrouh Dam in Faraya on Wednesday. The opening of the $40 million project - held under the slogan "The dream is now a reality" - promises to improve water supplies to dozens of communities. The 63-meter high dam has a storage capacity of some 8 million cubic meters of water and is expected to benefit residents of Kesrouan, Ftouh and Metn.

"Lebanon's resource is not oil," said Nohad Nawfal, who heads the association of Kesrouan municipalities. "Our only resource is water, which we have not yet learned to exploit to benefit our people."

The dam, located 40 kilometers northeast of Beirut, will draw its water from rainfall and Al-Laban Spring.