The Basra Investment Commission has awarded a $245m contract to the local contractor Al-Saqr al-Jareh to build 1,857 units on the outskirts of Basra in Southern Iraq. The project will be completed within five years.

The housing scheme is part of Iraq’s efforts to reduce the housing shortfall, currently estimated to be about 2-3.5 million homes. In the National Development Plan (NDP) for 2010-2014, the government has allocated $31.6bn, 17 per cent of the $186bn of total planned investment, towards increasing housing stock and regenerating dilapidated buildings.

The housing programme will be funded through government and private investment and schemes will be procured by central government and regional governorate bodies.