Under two high-level committees, the government is to complete unfinished projects

INA-  Baghdad

The government is making significant progress in addressing the backlog of unfinished projects related to infrastructure, schools, sewage and water projects, hospitals, and other facilities. The government is led by Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani and is working through two committees: one chaired by Minister of Planning Mohamed Ali Tamim, and the other including the heads of the Federal Integrity Commission and the Financial Supervision Bureau. 
 
Numerous projects that had been delayed have been restarted and expedited to be completed since Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani took office, in addition to the inception of numerous new initiatives.

"According to statistics from the Ministry of Planning, there are 1,452 lagging projects in all regions of the country, distributed among basic sectors: services, transport, communications, the buildings sector, and the agriculture and industry sector," Ministry of Planning spokesman Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).  
 
According to Al-Hindawi, "The ministry has categorized these projects based on completion rates; the first category is for projects with a completion rate of 10 percent or less, the second category is for projects from 10 to 50 percent, and the third category is for projects from 50 percent and above."

He emphasized that "the losses resulting from the state of damage and extinction, which hit these projects due to their suspension for years, exceeded ten trillion dinars in cumulative spending on all these projects."  
 
"The government has established two committees. The first is led by Planning Minister Mohamed Ali Tamim and is tasked with handling the backlog of unfinished projects and hospitals. The second committee includes the heads of the Financial Supervision Bureau and the Integrity Commission and is in charge of handling other projects like infrastructure, schools, and sanitation."

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) was informed by Ali Al-Hamidawi, the head of the parliamentary services committee, that "the amounts allocated for the establishment of new service projects are few" and that "the state spends about 75% of its money on services, and the government collects less than 10% of their real value."  
 
"These services—whether they are related to water or sanitation—need to be paid for in order to be sustained and continued," Al-Hamidawi stated.

  
According to Baqir Al-Saadi, the committee's deputy chairman, "the lagging projects in Baghdad and the provinces during 2023 amounted to more than 1,600 projects," as reported by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
 
Al-Saadi made the observation that "work is suspended in lagging projects from previous governments, with completion rates as low as 30–35%."