On behalf of His Excellency the Minister of Construction, Housing and Public Municipalities, Mr. Bengin Rekani, the draft national housing policy for the period from 2024-2030, prepared by the Ministry through the Directorate of Housing was discussed this day with all local authorities and representatives of the United Nations Human Settlements Program in Iraq.
The discussion was attended by Dr. Muhammad Mohsen Al-Sayed, Director General of Regional and Local Development at the Ministry of Planning, Mr. Ali Hussein Abdel Amir, Director General of the Urban Planning Directorate, Mr. Muslim Kazemi, official of the United Nations Human Settlements Program in Iraq, representatives of ministries and unions, and a group of cadres from the Ministry of Construction, Housing and public municipalities.
The discussions included a presentation of previous policies and a comparison between them and the draft of the new policy by the director and cadres of the Studies and Policies Department in the Directorate of Housing, and an explanation that the government’s current path to address the housing crisis differed from previous years. It included presenting statistics on the housing gap, the urgent need to address the housing crisis, efforts to establish new residential cities, statistics on the establishment of residential investment complexes, in addition to the policy of securing loans for construction, the government’s efforts to build complexes for employees and vulnerable groups, discussing the policy of managing and securing land, producing housing units, securing financial support, and building the infrastructure requirements for the complexes and building maintenance policy, and securing and developing building materials.
Tables with numbers of the policy objectives were presented, the implementation of which requires follow-up by all relevant institutions and requires significant government support for its implementation. Extensive discussions have taken place, and it is hoped that after receiving all inquiries, the Ministry, through the Directorate of Housing, will send the final version for approval by the government and the authorities concerned with its implementation.