Press Release

Contact:   Thomas J. Basile

Office of Strategic Communications

1-914-822-7597

Baghdad, Iraq�August 24, 2003�After 30 years of broken promises, two Baghdad communities have been reunited thanks to the joint efforts of the Coalition and local residents.� Today, the Coalition Provisional Authority is pleased to announce the opening of a new bridge joining Gazeliyah and Al-Shula.

Twenty five years ago, the Iraqi government built a canal separating the neighboring Sunni and Shia communities.� For decades residents petitioned the government to build a bridge traversing the canal, but to no avail.

In June, the Neighborhood Advisory Councils from Gazeliyah and Al-Shula asked the City and the Coalition for assistance in completing the long overdue project.� Neighborhood Advisory Councils have been established in each of Baghdad�s 88 communities since the fall of the former regime to assist the municipal government in identifying issues of importance to local residents.�

�This bridge is just a small example of the community coming together,� said Lieutenant Colonel Eric W. Nantz, Battalion Commander of the 1-325 Airborne Infantry Regiment. �In the past this type of cooperation would never happen.� Iraqis are now making decisions to ensure a better life for themselves and their children,� The 1-325 Airborne helped coordinate the procurement of materials and acquire funding.

The project was headed by Basil Tawfik, a local Iraqi engineer who employed 40 people to construct the bridge with the US Army 1 AD 3rd Brigade�s discretionary funds.� With Iraqi and Coalition engineers working side by side, construction took only a month.� The total cost for the bridge was just under $21,000 and was funded by the 1 AD.� The new bridge can accommodate two lanes of traffic and two pedestrian walkways.

�When the Coalition first got here we talked to them about importance of this bridge to both communities,� said Mr. Tawfik.� �We are grateful for all the help we�ve received to make us one community again.�

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