Media Contact: Sereen Juma (202) 473-7199
sjuma@worldbank.org AMMAN, December 18, 2004 ― The World Bank today signed a $20 million grant agreement with the Interim Government of Iraq to bring water to rural communities by improving water supply, sanitation, irrigation and drainage systems. The Emergency Community Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (ECIRP) will repair essential water infrastructure networks in Iraq’s low-income, rural areas through labor intensive, small-scale civil works programs. Approximately 25 water development programs to upgrade water supply, sanitation, irrigation and drainage infrastructure across the country will be financed under the project, generating much needed employment in poor communities. “This signing is a first step towards a continuous cooperation with the World Bank,” says Iraq’s Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Latif Rashid. “Iraq is in dire need of development and rehabilitation and the sooner these projects are off the ground, the better it is for the Iraqi people.” Water is a critical element of Iraq’s agriculture and rural economy which account for 87 percent of the country’s water use. But Iraq’s irrigation system has operated for a long time without maintenance or proper management plans, resulting in disruption of economic activities in rural communities. Iraq’s water and sewage system has also been severely disrupted by conflicts. In rural areas, particularly in the south, water sources for washing and domestic use are unreliable and unhealthy. Only 46 percent of Iraqis in rural areas have access to potable water and nearly a quarter of the population lack safe sewage facilities. As a result, rural areas have seen a sharp increase in waterborne diseases. “The project will not only deliver a reliable and safe supply of water to the Iraqi people, but it will also bring jobs to the project areas and stimulate the rural economy with improved irrigation systems,” says Faris Hadad-Zervos, Chief of Mission for the World Bank’s Iraqi program. Financed by the Iraq Trust Fund, a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank, the ECIRP is the fifth project to be launched this month—bringing the total value of reconstruction projects signed in December to $255 million. To date, donors have deposited approximately $400 million in the Iraq Trust Fund—nearly all of which have been allocated to emergency projects in education, health, water supply and sanitation, urban development and private sector development. # # # For information on the World Bank’s activities in Iraq, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/iq For more information on the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, please visit: http://www.irffi.org |
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