Reconstruction: 45 water desalination projects cover 86% of Iraq, and we need 500 billion to complete 10 new ones.
Reconstruction: 45 water desalination projects cover 86% of Iraq, and we need 500 billion to complete 10 new ones.
2026-10-15
Shafaq News – Baghdad
On Thursday, Hussein Al-Moussawi, Director of the Water Department at the Ministry of Construction and Housing, revealed that more than 45 water desalination projects have been launched in the Iraqi governorates, bringing the percentage of those served to 86% across Iraq. He pointed out the need for 500 billion dinars to complete and import the necessary equipment to open 10 new projects.
Al-Moussawi explained to Shafaq News Agency that “the issue of funding shortages has delayed the implementation of existing projects, but nevertheless the Water Department is continuing to implement its projects, and we have understandings with international donors to fund some projects, and the goal of these is to implement our plan as it was designed.”
He added, “There are projects where the completion rate is more than 95%, and we have projects ready to be opened soon. There are also projects that started months ago, and there was a directive to continue work at a rate of 40%, meaning that the investing company is not allowed to stop without the total amount completed reaching 40%.” He emphasized that “this contractual condition has greatly benefited us in continuing the work.”
Al-Moussawi pointed out that “the financing has affected some projects, especially with regard to imports, including the import of equipment, pipes, pumps, and other items. These depend on opening letters of credit that require strengthening them with hard currency in order to import them. We currently need more than 500 billion in order to continue the work and complete approximately 10 projects ready for opening.”
He explained that “Iraq is the first to be affected by the issue of pollution, and that water purification plants were installed on rivers, and these rivers are supposed to be fresh and easy to purify, but the turbidity of the water, the increase in its pollution and the increase in salts in the raw water have affected the efficiency of our operating plants, and also affect the quality of the produced water.”
The Director of the Water Department at the Ministry of Construction pointed out that “in recent years, as a result of water scarcity changes, the salinity rate has increased, especially in the southern regions of Iraq. Therefore, we tried to address this issue by establishing desalination projects on the Shatt al-Arab waters, including the Basra Water Project, which now produces water for more than a third of the governorate’s population, and we are proceeding with its expansion within a plan prepared for this purpose.”
Al-Moussawi concluded by saying that “the seawater desalination project is a fundamental and radical solution to the problems in Basra and the southern governorates. This matter was adopted by the Basra Governorate and a contract was concluded, but the contract concluded with the Basra Governorate regarding this matter is for water treatment in the governorate only.”
shafaq.com
