Karbala to spend $305m on restoration and new projects
Holy city to see development in infrastructure, healthcare, education and housing sectors, chairman of the Reconstruction and Strategic Planning Committee says
The Karbala Provincial Council has approved the spending of more than $305m for 285 projects in the Iraqi city, the chairman of the Reconstruction and Strategic Planning Committee announced this week.
Dr Abbas Nasser Hassani said that amongst the projects endorsed by the supplementary budget for 2012, there were 82 specifically for electricity, which will cost around $52m, while 40 projects costing $25m will focus on housing and reconstruction. Furthermore, he said that there would be six communications projects that would cost $1.2m.
“Twenty four projects costing $15.44m will be channelled into the health sector, while $858,000 will be covering six other projects for higher education, civil registration and traffic,” Hassani said.
He added that 20 projects for education would receive $36.8m, while 101 projects for various municipalities will cost more than $163m.
Karbala is one of Iraq’s wealthiest cities as it profits from both religious tourism and agricultural produce. It is located about 100km southwest of the capital, Baghdad and has an estimated population of around 572,300 people.
Home to the Imam Hussein Shrine, the city is one of the holiest cities for Shia Muslims, after Mecca and Medina and millions visit the city every year.
