IRAQ: HOPES CONTINUE FOR IMPROVEMENT IN BAGHDAD'S SLUM DISTRICT DESPITE SET BACKS IN RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
Record ID:
646737
IRAQ: HOPES CONTINUE FOR IMPROVEMENT IN BAGHDAD'S SLUM DISTRICT DESPITE SET BACKS IN RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
- Title: IRAQ: HOPES CONTINUE FOR IMPROVEMENT IN BAGHDAD'S SLUM DISTRICT DESPITE SET BACKS IN RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
- Date: 28th January 2005
- Summary: (W3) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 26, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WORKER'S HAND HAMMERING NAIL INTO WALL 2. WORKER WORKING AT WATER PUMPING STATION 3. WORKER REPAIRING DAMAGED WALLS AT PUMPING STATION 4. WORKERS PAINTING ENTRANCE TO PUMPING STATION 5. CLOSE UP OF SIGN READING: 'PUMPING STATION DELIVERED BY SALA INTERNATIONAL SWEDEN' 6. VARIOUS OF PUMPING STATION BEING RENOVATED 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SALAM MOHAMMED, ENGINEER AT PUMPING STATION, SAYING: "We need some support from the government, we need to give a good quality, a good engineering, to do something to this city because you know, this city is suffering before a long, long time from the Baath(ists) people, you know, from Saddam's army, something like this." 8. WORKERS AT PUMPING STATION 9. ELDERLY WORKER SMOKING CIGARETTE 10. BULLDOZER CARRYING SEWAGE PIPE / WIDE VIEW OF BULLDOZER 11. PIPE BEING BEING PLACED IN GROUND (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 27, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLONIAL KEN COX, U.S. ENGINEER FOR BAGHDAD PROJECTS, SAYING: "In Sadr City we have made just unbelievable changes. It used to be one of the areas that Saddam Hussein just literally cast aside and didn't give any assistance to it. So since we've been over here, right now we have about eight hundred million dollars worth of projects on tap to be done in Sadr City of which over three hundred million are already on-going. We have repaired the sewage network, gone through and cleaned the lines and repaired a lot of the breakage so you can actually now drive the streets and not drive through raw sewage." (W3) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 26, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. SEWAGE WATER IN STREET 14. WOMAN AND CHILD WALKING/ PAN TO MEN STANDING IN STREET 15. WORKERS AT SITE 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMED IDARI, SADR CITY RESIDENT, SAYING: "We hope that this city, this poor city will be acknowledged by the government. The government should realise the suffering of this city. This city suffered more than any other city in Iraq." (w3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 27, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. WORKERS IN STREET/ BACKGROUND OF PEOPLE SETTING UP ELECTION POSTERS 18. POSTERS BEING PLACED ON STREET WALL 19. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLONIAL KEN COX, U.S. ENGINEER FOR BAGHDAD PROJECTS, SAYING: "The projects, they will continue until we've finished. That's going to take many, many years. So the elections, that is just a positive piece of work for all the efforts that have been made between the Iraqi people and the coalition forces and that is just literally one day in the many, many years that we will be here to help improve the country." 20. WORKERS AT CONSTRUCTION SITE Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAC9Y9EZL9MYYIFK7EE8PQ0ZSLY
- Story Text: Hope for improvement in Baghdad's slum district
grows, despite set backs in reconstruction projects.
A surge in attacks on Iraq's infrastructure and
power plants has smashed hopes of improved power and water
before Sunday's (January 30) election, but work in
Baghdad's sprawling working-class district of Sadr City is
underway.
As many Iraqis desperate for improvement await Sunday's
poll in the hope it may cement their postwar political
power and improve their daily lifestyles, residents of the
Shi'ite slum of Sadr City are focusing simply on survival.
Much of Sadr City's reconstruction projects were put on
hold a few months ago when the district became a war zone.
Followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clashed
daily with U.S. troops in the streets during an uprising in
August.
But in October, Sadr offered to disarm his militia and
the government promised to start reconstruction in Sadr
City.
Residents complain that the sewage system needs repaired
and that they suffer from frequent power cuts and fuel
shortages.
Despite the delay in repairing basic services, many
projects are now underway.
Sadr City's water pumping station, which was neglected
for decades, is now being repaired allowing some of the
district's two million residents to benefit from clean
water.
As with most reconstruction projects in the country, a
lack of funding is adding to the delay of delivering
services.
Salam Mohammad, an engineer working at Sadr City's
pumping station says that almost 80% of the project has
been completed, but said lack of funding from the
government is making it difficult for them to continue with
their work.
"We need some support from the government, we need to
give a good quality, a good engineering, to do something to
this city because you know, this city is suffering before a
long, long time from the Baath(ists) people, you know, from
Saddam's army," he said.
Foreign investment is filling in some of the gaps. Last
year, the United States allocated $18.4 billion US dollars
to rebuild Iraq.
Colonial Ken Cox, a U.S. engineer working on
reconstruction projects in Baghdad, said they have made
strides in upgrading development in the area.
"In Sadr City we have made just unbelievable changes.
It used to be one of the areas that Saddam Hussein just
literally cast aside and didn't give any assistance to it.
So since we've been over here, right now we have about
eight hundred million dollars worth of projects on tap to
be done in Sadr City of which over three hundred million
are already on-going. We have repaired the sewage network,
gone through and cleaned the lines and repaired a lot of
the breakage so you can actually now drive the streets and
not drive through raw sewage," he said.
Security is a constant issue and authorities have been
able to spend only five percent - just over $1.5 billion
U.S. dollars - of the more than $30 billion U.S. dollars
promised by the United States and the world community for
reconstruction and basic services.
In Sadr City, where anti-American sentiment is
widespread, reconstruction is viewed as essential towards
quelling violence and helping authorities, both Iraqi and
foreign, to gain the trust of the local community.
With the elections only days away, one Sadr City
resident urged the new government not to repeat the neglect
of Saddam Hussein's regime.
"We hope that this city, this poor city will be
acknowledged by the government. The government should
realise the suffering of this city. This city suffered more
than any other city in Iraq," said Mohammed Idari.
According to Cox, development projects will continue,
"until we've finished", adding that the rebuilding is
"going to take many, many years".
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