Iraq is estimated to require more than three million houses to accommodate a growing population and those rendered homeless by the civil war, a newspaper has reported.
Nearly one million houses are needed in the Baghdad governorate alone, Arabic daily Al-Mada said, quoting Ahmed Al-Kanani, Member of Parliament and President of the Parliamentary Economic Committee.
He said nearly 10,000 houses have been constructed within the Bismayah City project, which was launched in 2013 as part of a major national housing program.
“About 10,000 houses in Bismayah City have been completed and more are expected to be built despite the difficult security situation. I believe the completion of Bismayah City will positively affect the flow of foreign investment to execute big projects in Iraq,” he said, while denying that the 100,000-house project is facing major hurdles.
The paper quoted Shaker Al-Zamli, Chairman of Baghdad Investment Commission, which is supervising the project, as saying the South Korean contractor Hanwha is pushing ahead with the project and “reports about its withdrawal are baseless.”
Bismayah City, located around 10 km southeast of the capital Baghdad, is spread over an area of nearly 18 square kilometers and is designed to house 600,000 people.
Zawya
1 March
