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Iraq needs to build at least 250,000 houses every year to accommodate a steady rise in its population, the country’s Construction and Housing Minister has said.
Benkin Rikani said several housing projects in the capital Baghdad and other parts of Iraq would be awarded in the next few months.
He told the official Alsabah newspaper on Sunday that the projects include new residential cities and housing complexes in the outskirts of Baghdad and other governorates.
“We have conducted a study which showed that Iraq needs to build more than 250,000 housing units every year to face high growth in its population,” Rikani said.
“The project includes mainly housing complexes and residential cities,” he said, adding that Iraq’s population is growing by nearly 1.25 million per year.
Iraq is building its largest residential town near Baghdad at a cost of around $7.7 billion. South Korea’s Hanwha is building 100,000 houses in ‘Bismaya City’ which will accommodate nearly 600,000 people.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
