Iraq's Failing Construction Projects

Sultani said, “The failure is mainly [apparent] in the sewage and road pavement projects, while the renovation of old factories, which date back to tens of years ago, was ignored.” He added, “Bureaucracy and poor management of funds by some people focusing their attention on how to steal public money and give priority to partisan over national interests have increased this failure.”

In this regard, Mohsen Ali Atiyyeh, educational and political researcher, spoke to Al-Monitor on the reconstruction projects that have fallen into the hands of corrupt people and virtual companies. He said, “The reconstruction projects have become the entry gate to loot public funds, through virtual companies owned by influential figures who acquired contracts with fancy prices and sold them to corrupt subcontractors.”

Atiyyeh added, “The most prominent example is the project to [supply] steel structures for school buildings, which was supposed to be implemented by an Iranian firm that was contracted in 2008. Yet the project was not completed because the firm left Iraq.”

“Iraq’s losses in this project amounted to 282 billion Iraqi dinars [about $249 million],” the Iraqi Commission of Integrity stated on Aug. 5, 2013.

This phenomenon is confirmed by Transparency International, which said in a report cited on the Iraqi al-Taghier TV channel on May 3 that Iraq is the third most corrupt country in the world.

Al-Monitor talked with Abbas al-Musawi, the media adviser to current Vice President Nouri al-Maliki, about his opinion on the reasons behind the failure of the construction and development projects. He said, "There is a lack of contracting with international investment companies. They were replaced with local companies that lack competence and experience in planning and design, and most of which are owned by corrupt contractors.”