Iraqis angry as billions fail to fix public works

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – An air of decay hangs heavily  among the gutted facades leaning over into al-Rasheed street,  Baghdad’s oldest merchant street, strewn with heaps of trash and  broken concrete.
Violence may be fading compared with the dark days of  sectarian carnage two years ago, and a series of oilfield  development deals already signed and gas field tenders up for  auction this week hold the promise of prosperity.

But behind the crumbling walls of their homes, life for  Iraqis is still a daily struggle.
After years of war and neglect, clean water and electricity  remain scarce, sewage pipes often overflow into streets, and  access to good healthcare is limited.

The failure of Iraqi leaders to form a new government seven  months after an election has fuelled public exasperation at a  time when many expect the authorities to focus less on security  and more on improving basic services.

Shihab Ahmed Khammas, who runs a tailor shop on bustling  al-Rasheed street, said people are beginning to lose patience.

“The government is too busy with other things. Some  buildings have collapsed because of neglect,” he said.

Patting stacks of English tweed inside his little shop,  located in the heart of Baghdad’s once-affluent merchant  district, he said the basement of the building remained flooded  as underground water kept gushing through the walls.

Most sewage pipes in the area, known for its tall buildings  with ornate neo-classical columns, had not been renovated since  1982, he said. Like most people, he blamed corruption.

“When a country gets high oil revenues, infrastructure has  to be a priority, but … this is not happening,” said Khammas,  the street outside his shop cordoned off by troops to prevent  attacks on crowded places. “They are too busy stealing money.”

The United States has spent $54 billion in relief and  reconstruction efforts since the 2003 invasion, and it and the  Iraqi government have spent billions more in Iraqi money, but  ordinary people have seen little improvement.

The Iraqi government, which gets most of its $72 billion  budget from oil revenues, says it is committed to improving  basic services but progress is painfully slow.
The United Nations says 83 percent of sewage is being  discharged untreated into waterways, while the government  estimates a quarter of Iraqis have no access to safe water.

Sewage treatment plants and pipes have not been renovated  for 15 years. Trash collection is sporadic.

In the southern oil port of Basra, streets get flooded with  sewage water during the winter rainy season, and many canals  criss-crossing the city have turned into rubbish skips.

“For as long as the government is not seen to be making more  of an effort to deal with the existing shortages, discontent  will continue to brew,” said Gala Riani, Middle East analyst  with consultants IHS Global Insight.

“Although Iraq has received considerable external funds, in  the future the onus will fall on the Iraqi government itself to  fund reconstruction.”

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Poor public services have fuelled frustration with political  leaders who are still haggling over how to form a new government  after the election in March yielded no clear winner.

Protests flared this summer over power shortages, a worrying  sign as Iraq struggles to restore normalcy.

Protracted talks on the formation of a new government mean  Iraqis could be in for a long wait to see any improvement.

Lax money management, including under the U.S.  administrators who ran Iraq after the invasion, and corruption,  are part of the problem.

Hakeem Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for Baghdad’s municipality,  defended the city’s efforts, saying it was working as fast as it  could in tough security conditions.

“These are strategic plans that can’t be done in a year,” he  said. “Not a single project has been postponed this year.”

One ambitious plan is to give Baghdad’s dusty skyline a bit  of a facelift ahead of the Arab League summit in 2011, the first  major event Iraq is to host since the invasion.

The project includes restoring six major hotels and run-down  areas in a city choked with corridors of concrete blast walls.

Iraq also hopes a fall in violence will herald an investment  boom and help with the reconstruction. So far oil firms have led  the charge, and investment in other sectors has been slow.

Basim Jameel Anton, chairman of the Babylon, one of the  hotels under reconstruction, said talks with a major Western  hotel chain fell through this year after a suicide bomb attack  on his hotel in January, in which he was wounded.

“We are looking for investors. The attack in January damaged  those plans,” he said, showing a scar on his cheek.

Strolling through the rubbish-strewn lobby of the Babylon,  perched on a dusty bank of the Tigris River, he added with a  shrug: “This is my country and I am part of it. Our persistence  to do this work is part of our connection with our homeland.”