The head of Iraq’s Reconstruction Fund for Areas Affected by Terrorist Operations, Mustafa al-Hiti, said on Tuesday that the Iraqi government plans to offer loans to people whose houses were damaged in the war against Islamic State.
“The plan is to give loans of around $20,000 for home reconstruction to each family affected by the war against [ISIS]. In cooperation with the World Bank, we are working to rebuild the impacted areas, especially Mosul, and to enable displaced persons to return to their places of origin.”
Iraq’s Sabah newspaper quoted al-Hiti as saying that the World Bank assessments have found that more than 150,000 houses were damaged in battles against ISIS.
A spokesperson for the Iraqi Oil Ministry also commented on the program, saying that the cost of the loans would be $2 billion dollars.
According to the official, the size of individual loans would depend on the extent of the damage to a person’s house. He speculated that around $10,000 would be loaned to families whose homes had suffered extensive, but partial, damage and $20,000 for those whose homes were completely destroyed.
“We are waiting on approval from the Iraqi government,” he concluded.
Large parts of Iraq suffered extensive infrastructure damage during the war against Islamic State, especially in Mosul and the cities in the Euphrates Valley.