Baghdad’s infrastructure in ruins 15 years after Saddam fell
BAGHDAD: After the Us-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 there were hopes its millenniumold capital Baghdad could rise again from the ashes, but construction sites have remained idle as if time stood still.
For 15 years promises of rebuilding infrastructure in the second most populous Arab capital have fallen through and a multitude of projects have been shelved. Baghdad's skyline is dotted with the desolate sights of rusting cranes, while roads and bridges are gutted with potholes and craters from lack of maintenance.
Even the emblematic Fardous (paradise) Square, where a giant effigy of dictator Saddam Hussein was symbolically pulled down with the help of US Marines, remains to be revamped. Infrastructure across Baghdad, a city of 900 square kilometres (350 square miles), is in dire need of repairs.
"Industry, education, health, agriculture... everything is now worse than it was during Saddams rule," said businessman Sadeq al-shomari.
In 2004 and again in 2007, international conferences were organised to rebuild Iraq and donors pledged massive funds for projects that have never materialised. Some of the funds allocated to rebuilding Baghdad have disappeared, according to Transparency International which ranks Iraq as the 12th most corrupt country in the world.
Teacher Zuheir Ouasmi blames it on corrupt officials who he says have pilfered Iraqi coffers, comparing his country's woes to the folk tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves".
Before 2003 "the wealth of Ali Baba was in the hands of the dictator but now 40,000 thieves have take over Ali Babas cave and the treasure", he said.
As Baghdad's infrastructure worsens, its population has swelled mainly due to an influx of people who fled conflict zones elsewhere in Iraq to settle in the capital.
In 2003, the capital was home to 4.7 million but now the population of Baghdad is 7.2 million strong. During that same period the number of cars in the congested city also grew from 250,000 to more than two million vehicles.
Daily power cuts plague the population who, in order to keep their refrigerators working and mobile phones charged, must rely on privately-owned generators. The streets of the capital – wrecked by years of sectarian violence after the Us-led invasion that ousted Saddam and car bomb attacks –are some of the most congested in the world.
Cement blocks have been erected to block off roads and render them more secure from 2003 onwards, and restaurants, cafes and shops have also used cement walls and sandbags as protection.
Now that the violence has decreased, hundreds of streets have been reopened but roadblocks manned by security forces are still an obstacle course for motorists and pedestrians alike. KARACHI: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Sunday postponed his plan to return to the country, saying he will not return until an interim government is formed, a media report said.
The former president and chief of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), who has to appear before a special Pakistani court in a high treason case, has postponed his plan to return from the UAE as the incumbent government will not provide him the security he had applied for, a party leader said.
He is likely to return by end of May or even start of June as soon as a caretaker government is formed, the party leader told the Express Tribune.
APML'S central leadership will finalise the date, he said.
The 74-year-old retired general has been living in Dubai since last year when he was allowed to leave Pakistan for medical treatment.
Musharraf, who had ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, had sought adequate security from the government for his return and his lawyer had moved a petition to the interior ministry, stating that the former president faced security threats.
The party has decided that a new application will be filed to the federal government seeking foolproof security for Musharraf.
The former military ruler was indicted in March, 2014 on treason charges for imposing emergency in the country which led to the confinement of a number of superior court judges in their houses and sacking of over 100 judges. He has been declared "proclaimed offender" by courts in the treason and the Benazir Bhutto assassination cases.