Iraq’s Ministry of Construction and Housing laid the foundation stone for a new housing compound in Baghdad's al-Nahrawan district, as part of ministry efforts to ease the housing crisis in Baghdad.
The $38 million compound, set to occupy a 48-dunam plot, will be constructed using modern systems and technology, therefore cutting in half the time it will take to build the compound. The plot will include 24 three-story residential buildings containing 480 apartments, each of 130 square metres.
It will include a kindergarten, two primary schools, each with 18 classrooms, a 12-classroom middle school, a commercial mall, a health centre and a mosque, as well as open spaces and a park, drinking water, electric power lines, telephone lines and a sewage network, according to ministry spokesman Abdul Wahid al-Shammary.
"The residential units in this compound will be given to terrorism victims, widows and orphans, in addition to other beneficiaries designated by the defence, interior, and migration and displacement ministries," he said.
Economic expert Hussein Allawi Khalifa said he hoped al-Nahrawan housing compound would represent "a real launch for other housing projects that adopt economical alternatives and modern construction systems keeping pace with architectural developments worldwide".
For the original May 16, 2014 piece from Mawtani.com, a service of Al-Shorfa referenced in this summary, click here.