On 28 January 2018, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) officially handed over total 200 housing units in Ramadi and Fallujah, Anbar Governorate, rehabilitated under the project titled "Promoting Urban Recovery and Resilience in Newly Liberated Areas in Iraq" generously funded by the Government of Japan.
In Al-Andalus neighbourhood, Ramadi, and Al-Jamhouriya neighbourhood, Fallujah, 200 war-damaged houses of vulnerable returnees that were categorised by UN-Habitat engineers as "major damage" and "severely damaged" based on the guidelines developed under the Shelter Cluster were selected to be rehabilitated, in addition to approximately 2,000 war-damaged houses that have been rehabilitated by UN-Habitat since 2016 in newly liberated areas across Iraq.
From the rehabilitation of these 200 houses, a total of 1,684 vulnerable returnees benefited, including 160 members of the returning families who were employed to undertake the rehabilitation works to support their livelihoods and to engage them in the rebuilding of their communities.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Aowsaj, the Mayor of Ramadi, and Mr. Issa Alsayer the Mayor of Fallujah, expressed their appreciation to UN-Habitat and the Government of Japan for their active contribution to stabilisation, recovery and reconstruction. They noted that the need for support is still massive, and hoped that there will be continued engagement to provide adequate housing to returning families.
H.E. Mr. Fumio Iwai, Ambassador of Japan to Iraq said, "I believe that this may be just a beginning for the returnees to resume their lives through this project funded by Japan, but is surely the first and significant step toward reconstruction because rehabilitation of housing is crucial for household as a base of every activity."
He added "Recognising reconstruction of Ramadi and Fallujah, the areas heavily damaged by the battle, requires an immense task in the coming period, Japan continues its efforts to support vulnerable people in close cooperation with UN-Habitat."
Head of UN-Habitat Iraq, Dr. Erfan Ali referred that the handing over of the 200 rehabilitated damaged houses in Ramadi and Fallujah and the employment of the residents of the targeted neighbourhoods in the assessment and the implementation of the works would directly contribute to peaceful and sustainable urban recovery of these areas.
Dr. Ali added that UN-Habitat has recently concluded the housing damage assessment in Ramadi and launched new low-cost core housing projects to support the returnees whose houses are fully destroyed in Ramadi, Fallujah and Gharma.
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