Iraq has awarded a contract to a consortium of companies to prepare the designs for a project to expand “Al-Sadr City” in the capital Baghdad, an official has said. 

The project involves the construction of nearly 90,000 houses in that city to ease crowding as well as new facilities and services, Iraqi cabinet secretary general Hamid Al-Ghazi said, quoted by Aliqitsad News and other Iraqi publications. 

He said the government has approved part of the funds for the project in the 2021 budget and that it would be launched once the design studies are completed. 

“A consortium of consultancy companies has started preparing designs for this strategic project,” Gazi said without identifying the firms involved. 

He said authorities are working to evaluate costs of the project, which is part of several housing schemes launched by Iraq after the war to tackle a housing crisis. 

Iraq’s cabinet has recently endorsed the project for the development and extension of the City, a key district suburb of Baghdad that was formerly known as “Saddam City” and has a population of nearly one million.  

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

 
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