COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY

South-Central Region

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, September 4, 2003

 distributions to An Najaf province

Al Hilla, Babil.  Officials from An Najaf Province, contractors, and others attended a CPA event in Al Hilla today that funded $2 million (3.6 billion Iraqi Dinars *) in projects for An Najaf. 

The project money will be used to repair the College of Engineering, College of Agriculture, University of Kufah Laboratory Sciences Building, Ministry of Agriculture Building, Ministry of Trade Building, banks, a retirement office, and police sub-stations.  Water treatment plants in the following areas will also benefit from the money:  Al Manathera, Al Huria, Al Meshkab, An Najaf, Al Hyderia, and Al Qadisia.  Finally, the money will provide a generator and fiber optic equipment for An Najaf Telecommunications Department, playground equipment, desks for schools, street cleanup machinery, and air filters for the main power plant.

All of these projects will result in increased employment for local people in Najaf Province.  CPA South-Central is also prepared to fund more economic reconstruction grants in Najaf.

Furthermore, we express our condolences to the families of all the innocent men and women killed or injured by the terrorist bomb in Najaf, including especially Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.

As Ambassador Bremer stated, “Once again, the terrorists have shown that they will stop at nothing to achieve their aims.  But they shall be stopped...and we shall overcome them…and even that tragic event can not derail Iraq’s forward movement to democratic government.”

We in the Coalition Provisional Authority pledge to continue our efforts to work with the people of Najaf to build a better life in a new and free Iraq.

* Assuming $1 equal 1,800 Iraqi Dinars.