Shafaq News-Al-Diwaniyah
Al-Diwaniyahneeds one trillion Iraqi dinars (about $763M) to complete its development projectsthrough mid-2027, Governor Abbas al-Zamili told Shafaq News on Tuesday.
Adequatefunding would be sufficient to finish the projects in full, al-Zamili said,lifting the province's services and urban infrastructure to a better standard. The province's 2023 allocation under Iraq's Regional Development Program —afederal budget mechanism that distributes funds to provinces for infrastructureand service projects such as roads, water, electricity, and healthcare, basedon population and poverty levels, with implementation overseen by localgovernments in coordination with federal ministries— totaled around 400 billiondinars ($305.3M), according to al-Zamili. An additional 150 billion dinars($114.5M) came from the Reconstruction Fund for the Poorest Provinces, bringingtotal allocations to roughly 600 billion dinars ($458M), an amount that fallsshort of closing Al-Diwaniyah's development gap.
Federalministries have since launched investment projects in the province valued ataround two trillion dinars ($1.53B), building on initiatives the previousgovernment established to address the province's service and urban shortfalls. The local government is ready to complete the investment projects, but fundingneeds to arrive in installments, according to al-Zamili.
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Funding hadseparately stalled on several service projects in Al-Diwaniyah due to theabsence of federal budgets for 2025 and 2026, parliamentary Regions andGovernorates Committee member Jaafar al-Zamili said earlier, citing a need formore than 100 billion dinars ($76.3M) to complete key projects including asports city, a medical city, the Al-Diwaniyah Grand Sewage project, and theAl-Sudair water project, some of which have already passed 75 percent completion. Following talks with Finance Minister Falih al-Sari, the ministry pledged toallocate funding for the stalled projects in the coming period.
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