More projects planned for southern city

 

By Ali Allak

 

Azzaman, 2004-12-20

 

Reconstruction will start in earnest in the southern Province of Wasit in 2005, according to Governor Mohammed Ridha.

 

The province south of Baghdad borders Iran on the east where tribal chieftains have recently complained about insecurity which they blame on Iranian infiltrators.

 

But Ridha said his province, home to nearly 750,000 people, was calm.

 

“We hope to implement scores of service projects and upgrade the infrastructure in the province in 2005.

 

“The state of security and stability the province enjoys has made the situation here different from that in other areas in the country,” he said.

 

For centuries the provincial capital, Kut, was a regional center for the carpet trade from Persia and India but it lost its glamour under the former leader Saddam Hussein.

 

The fertile area around Kut was once one of the country’s main cereal grain growing regions.

 

Kut was also the site of Iraq’s main Nuclear Research Facility that was looted following the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country.

 

Ridha acknowledge that his province suffered from “neglect and deprivation” during Saddam Hussein’s long rule.

 

He said he was promised to have the necessary funds ready at the start of 2005 to kick start the province’s reconstruction.

 

He declined to give any figures but said he would rely on local contractors and workers to do the job.

 

Most foreign companies and contractors have fled the country following the kidnapping and murder of scores of their staff at the hands of militant groups.

 

Meantime, Ridha said the provincial police force will soon add an additional 5,000 new volunteers to its ranks.

 

He said he would do “whatever it takes” to preserve security and turn Wasit into a model for other provinces.

 

“We need to consolidate the present state of calm in the province so that all citizens will feel secure and safe wherever they are in Wasit,” Ridha said.