FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 8, 2004
Contact: Brian Leventhal
Office of Strategic Communications
Tel: 1-703-343-8207 leventhalb@orha.centcom.mil

AMBASSADOR BREMER SIGNS NEW MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR IRAQI HOUSING CONTRACTS, KICKS OFF
PROJECT “IRAQI RENEWAL”

Baghdad, Iraq. Today, Ambassador Paul L. Bremer participated in a signing ceremony hosted by Iraqi Housing Minister Baqir Jabor Al-Zubaidi, at the Ministry for Housing and Construction, for seven new housing contracts worth in excess of $100 million. In doing so, Ambassador Bremer initiated the first phase of Project “Iraqi Renewal,” designed to provide thousand of Iraqis nationwide with housing, community infrastructure and both skilled and unskilled jobs.

This housing construction effort will, upon completion, provide living units for 3,528 families. This project will house in excess of 18,000 Iraqis, and employ over 14,000 Iraqis. While homes rank first among the products of these various community developments, each “neighborhood” will include a mosque, recreational ground, medical clinic, shopping mall, and schools. The communities will serve as a foundation for the construction of a bright and exciting future for the Iraqi people.

The Governorates which will benefit from these projects include Basrah, Muthanna, Najaf, Diyala, Karbala, Maysan, and Ninawa. Construction will begin immediately on the first project in Basrah.

During the signing ceremony, Ambassador Bremer remarked: “The future of Iraq is a future of hope. And for many families decent housing, housing with running water, sewage connections, electrical systems and telephone connections, is a central part of their hope. That is why signing these contracts represents a great deal more than ink on paper. These contracts mean that a future of hope is becoming a future of reality.”

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