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Image used for illustrative purpose. Construction labourers work at the site of a new Hotel in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad April 26, 2012. REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish
Iraq has decided to double the capital of its Housing Fund to support citizens seeking to build homes and finance the construction of new cities as part of a post-war plan to tackle a housing crisis, the local press reported on Wednesday.
The cabinet, which met on Tuesday, approved the capital increase from one trillion Iraqi dinars ($685 million) to two trillion dinars ($1.37 billion), the official Alsabah newspaper and other Iraqi publications said.
“We hope that this move will constitute a beginning to drastically tackle the housing crisis and build new residential cities in Iraq,” Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said.
Iraq has been locked in a post-war reconstruction scheme that involves the building of millions of houses for citizens who were displaced during the war.
In a study published by the Iraqi Aliqitisad News website on Tuesday, the Construction and Planning Ministry estimated Iraq needs nearly 3.5 million new homes in the next five years to ease the housing crisis.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)
© ZAWYA 2021
