Shafaq News- Al-Diwaniyah

Al-Diwaniyah needs one trillion Iraqi dinars (about $763M) to complete its development projects through mid-2027, Governor Abbas al-Zamili told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

Adequate funding would be sufficient to finish the projects in full, al-Zamili said, lifting the province's services and urban infrastructure to a better standard. The province's 2023 allocation under Iraq's Regional Development Program —a federal budget mechanism that distributes funds to provinces for infrastructure and service projects such as roads, water, electricity, and healthcare, based on population and poverty levels, with implementation overseen by local governments in coordination with federal ministries— totaled around 400 billion dinars ($305.3M), according to al-Zamili. An additional 150 billion dinars ($114.5M) came from the Reconstruction Fund for the Poorest Provinces, bringing total allocations to roughly 600 billion dinars ($458M), an amount that falls short of closing Al-Diwaniyah's development gap.

Federal ministries have since launched investment projects in the province valued at around two trillion dinars ($1.53B), building on initiatives the previous government established to address the province's service and urban shortfalls. The local government is ready to complete the investment projects, but funding needs to arrive in installments, according to al-Zamili.

Read more: Iraq’s al-Diwaniyah’s critical struggles: Infrastructure, healthcare, education

Funding had separately stalled on several service projects in Al-Diwaniyah due to the absence of federal budgets for 2025 and 2026, parliamentary Regions and Governorates Committee member Jaafar al-Zamili said earlier, citing a need for more than 100 billion dinars ($76.3M) to complete key projects including a sports city, a medical city, the Al-Diwaniyah Grand Sewage project, and the Al-Sudair water project, some of which have already passed 75 percent completion. Following talks with Finance Minister Falih al-Sari, the ministry pledged to allocate funding for the stalled projects in the coming period.

Read more: Discover Iraq: Al-Diwaniyah, a province of untapped potential and neglect