Reply #15: Freed of Gadhafi, Libyans expect post-war boom

[joshcryer]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/14/ap/business/main20105873.shtml">Freed of Gadhafi, Libyans expect post-war boom
TRIPOLI, Libya — Airlines are readying their return to Libya, ports largely shuttered during the fighting are receiving cargos and foreign oil companies that had fled the country's civil war are making tentative steps back.

And waiting eagerly on the doorstep are businessmen looking to get in on what they believe could be a bonanza for investment — an oil-rich nation with large tourism and construction potential that went largely untapped under an eccentric and often closed 42-year-long regime. Slowly, Libya is reopening its doors after seven months of fighting, even as former rebels still hunt for ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"Definitely, Libya is an El Dorado," said Husni Bey, one of Libya's biggest entrepreneurs. "It has great resources that really allow it to turn around in no time."

The optimism is tempered by the challenges the country faces in overcoming decades of underdevelopment and corruption that helped fuel the uprising against Gadhafi.