Iraq needs to build 2-3 million houses to tackle a festering housing problem caused by a steady population growth and damage to the sector during the war, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Nearly two million Iraqis are now without housing or proper accommodation because of the war and a growing house supply shortage, due to the lack of projects in the sector, the Arabic language daily Al-Mada said.
It quoted Mohammed Al Masoudi, a member of the Iraqi parliament's services and reconstruction committee, as saying the government must act to resolve this problem, which he described as "worrying."
"Iraq now needs 2-3 million houses to resolve this crisis and ensure proper housing for citizens," he said, adding that the capital Baghdad requires the construction of nearly 10 percent of the total units needed.
Around 80,000 houses are also needed to be built in the Southern Basra governorate, 140,000 in the Kurdistan region and 100,000 in Nineveh in the North, Masoudi said, stressing the need for a new investment law.
"The investment and reconstruction law is defunct even after it was modified…they were only simple modifications that do not ensure the investor's rights…we are still facing a lot of problems in the sector and there are many obstacles facing investors, including administrative and financial corruption," he said.
Al-Mada
2 July
