BREAKING: Iraq presents 10-year, $88bn reconstruction plan

12 February 2018
War with Isis resulted in $61bn in damages to Iraq's oil and gas, housing, power and infrastructure sectors

Iraq’s government, in cooperation with international partners led by the Washington-based World Bank, has developed a 10-year intervention plan requiring more than $88bn in investments to restore social and industrial services damaged in the three-year war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis).

The plan has two phases, each comprising five years.

“This plan guarantees implementation … We have to set institutions that will work together to make it happen. We will adopt a digital data platform to ensure thorough monitoring of funds and projects, and ensure full transparency and best use of resources,” says Maher Johan, Iraq’s deputy minister of planning.

MEED understands an executive committee will be formed to monitor the implementation of the plan.

The digital data platform will utilise analytics that will promote transparency among country donors contributing to the reconstruction fund, non-government organisations, private sector companies and relevant implementing agencies.

“The crisis facing Iraq and other oil-producing countries is a complex one,” Johan added, acknowledging the need to develop a financing mechanism and relevant methodology in order to focus resources on infrastructure and marginalised people.

The proposed mechanism integrates the use of grants and loans, foreign direct investments and public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“For such financing to be efficient, we have set up a framework based on active cooperation to optimise efficient use of financial resources,” Johan says.

MEED understands the digital data platform for reconstruction will provide access to donors and partners to follow up projects and track their implementation. It will also document progress of projects to ensure transparency of funds and how they are spent.

“All donations will be archived and documented by the executive committee. All governorates, private sector companies and ministries that receive funds and channel them to different implementing agencies … will submit their figures and data, produced on the platform,” Johan says. “There will be a geographic system that will provide very detailed figures for each project.”

According to Raja Rehan Arshad, lead disaster risk management specialist at the World Bank, the war with Isis resulted in $61bn in total damages. The reconstruction work will require nearly twice that figure due to the additional security and human resource costs, as well as the need for coherent coordination between government agencies, donors and private sector companies.

Arshad said the war resulted in some $4.2bn in damages to Iraq's oil and gas production and pipeline facilities, $16bn to housing, $7bn to power, $5.1bn to industry and commerce, $2.8bn to transport, $2.4bn to education and $2.3bn to healthcare.

 

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