Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri launched on Tuesday the 300-million dollar Litani River project to irrigate land in southern Lebanon.

Miqati said at the launch at the Grand Serail: “Its success cannot be achieved without fortifying Lebanon’s stability.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has promised to put a $5.9 billion 2011 spending bill on the agenda of a parliamentary session during an extraordinary round that lasts till March 19.

Ministerial sources told Beirut dailies on Tuesday that cabinet ministers deliberated the issue during a session held at Baabda palace a day earlier.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Monday said he was confident that missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions were still alive, upon his return from a several-day visit to Libya, where the three were last seen.

“The Libyan leaders expressed their readiness to closely follow up on the case,” Mansour said in an interview with NBN television.

The cabinet session scheduled to be held at the Baabda Palace will not tackle the wage boost dispute as parties involved in the matter failed to reach consensus, according to newspapers published on Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced his support to the deal between the Economic Committees and the General Labor Confederation that was sponsored by Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Baabda Palace in December.

A ceremony will be held at the Grand Serail on Tuesday to launch the 300-million-dollar Litani river project to irrigate agricultural land in southern Lebanon, As Safir daily reported.

The newspaper said that Premier Najib Miqati, Speaker Nabih Berri and MPs from the Development and Liberation bloc will attend the event. Representatives of Arab funds, particularly the Kuwaiti Fund, will also be present.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in the southern coastal town of Naqoura aboard a helicopter on Saturday for talks with the leadership of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Ban was greeted by UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas and undertook a brief tour by helicopter over the Blue Line.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday stressed to visiting U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon the need that the United Nations demarcate Lebanon’s maritime borders and demanded compensations for the oil spill caused by Israel’s bombardment of storage tanks at the thermal power station in Jiyeh during the July 2006 war.

“To date, Israel has not accepted to turn the post-July war cessation of hostilities into a permanent ceasefire in order to justify its incessant overflights in Lebanese airspace and its naval and territorial violations,” Berri added during talks in Ain al-Tineh with the U.N. chief.

U.S. Central Command Commander General James Mattis renewed on Friday his country’s commitment to a stable, sovereign and independent Lebanon.

He underscored the United States’ “support in strengthening the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces, recognizing its importance in serving as Lebanon’s sole legitimate defense force to secure Lebanon’s borders and defend the sovereignty and independence of the state.”

The cabinet will meet on Monday with the wage hike issue on its agenda following the price index committee’s failure to reach consensus over the salary increase for Lebanon’s employees, according to newspapers published on Friday.

The price index committee in its second consecutive meetings on Thursday failed to resolve the dispute between the Labor Minister, the Economic Committees, the General Labor Confederation and the Syndicate Coordination Committee over the wage hike.

The price index committee meeting failed on Thursday to reach an agreement over the wage hike.

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas announced that he will propose his plan in cabinet “because the government is responsible for implementing the law. Anything other than that does not concern us.”