In Anbar’s Ramadi, residents haven’t seen gov’t aid to rebuild

RAMADI, Iraq – It took just under a year to liberate Iraq’s large western province of Anbar from ISIS. More than two and a half years on from the end of the conflict, rubble is still strewn throughout the city of Ramadi. 

The United Nations has said the extent of the destruction in Ramadi was “staggering” with some 80 percent of the city – residential and public areas – in ruins. 

Jumaa Abdullah, a resident of Ramadi, said they have not received any assistance from the government of Iraq to rebuild their home. And they don’t have the money to do it themselves, he told Rudaw. 

It will cost some $5 billion to rebuild Anbar. The province has been allocated 139 billion Iraqi dinars (about $116 million) in the 2019 budget bill.

The poverty rate in Anbar is at a high 41 percent, according to government figures. This is double what it was before the ISIS conflict.