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Iraq Reconstruction Moving Ahead Again

May-25-2004 » Filed Under: Iraq News

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By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2004 -- Security challenges in Iraq put a significant wrinkle into reconstruction efforts in early spring, but work is once again progressing rapidly on $5 billion in contracts awarded in March, the U.S. head of reconstruction in Iraq told Pentagon reporters May 24.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. David J. Nash, director of the Iraq Program Management Office in Baghdad, said rebuilding continued throughout the tumultuous April 9 timeframe, even when 75 percent of the Iraqi workforce stopped showing up for work due to security concerns. [...]

The focus of the rebuilding is currently in seven cities: Baghdad, Mosul, Salahy al-Din, Fallujah, Ramadi, Baquba and Tikrit. Nash said Najaf and Basra were recently added to the priority list as well.

A new Accelerated Iraqi Reconstruction Program advocated by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, further boosts the reconstruction effort by employing more Iraqis to more quickly initiate projects that will have a major impact on Iraqi communities, Nash explained.

He said he has worked with the military commanders, Coalition Provisional Authority project managers and local government leaders to prioritize projects to be advanced under the program.

So far, Nash said about $130 million in contracts have been awarded through the program to cover more than 40 projects ranging from home loan programs to sewage treatment facility work.


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