Iraqi government takes on housing crisis
The Iraqi government is mulling over several housing projects to solve the mounting housing crisis.
During his visit to the city of Bismayah 40 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of Baghdad on June 19, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced that sufficient funding had been secured to complete a project to construct 100,000 residential units. South Korea's Hanwha Engineering and Construction Company is implementing the Bismayah residential project. Only 35,000 have been constructed so far.
The Iraqi Council of Ministers voted last week to establish the city of Rafeel in the area surrounding the Baghdad airport, which will include hundreds of thousands of housing units in eight different regions.
Kadhimi announced on June 10 a national plan for the distribution of land, housing loans for construction, and advanced digital registration mechanisms to implement the project.
This project is an urgent move to tame the soaring housing crisis in Iraq, which is exacerbated by the large increase in a population that is set to reach 50 million by 2030.
