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Baghdad bombs to cost $16 mn in repairs
Repairs to government buildings after massive bombings in the centre of the Iraqi capital last week will cost around USD 16 million, officials said today.
Repairs to government buildings after massive bombings in the centre of the Iraqi capital last week will cost around $16 million, officials said on Tuesday.
The near-simultaneous attacks, a truck bombing at the justice and public works ministries and a car bomb at the Baghdad provincial government offices, killed 153 people and left more than 500 wounded.
Following a cabinet meeting today, ministers allocated 16 billion dinars (USD 13.7 million) for the rehabilitation of the ministries, both of which were badly damaged in the October 25 carnage.
"The cabinet agreed that the ministry of finance should transfer the money ... to fix and renovate the ministries of justice and municipalities," a government statement said.
It added that nine billion dinars would be for the ministry of justice, while the remainder would be for the ministry of public works.
Baghdad Governor Salah Abdul Razzaq, meanwhile, told AFP that the provincial government had earmarked three billion dinars (USD 2.6 million) for the repair of its offices.
He criticised the central government, however, for not funding those renovations, noting that "even though we are a local government, it was the same attack, the same damage, the same disaster."
"When I went to the hospital, I visited all the people who were injured in both the attacks -- at the ministries, and the provincial government buildings," he said, to underline his point.
