Details of Iraqi provinces shares in million residential plots initiative

The Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities, and Public Works announced the estimated shares of plots to be distributed across various provinces within the Prime Minister's "Watan" initiative to distribute one million serviced land plots, relying on two main criteria: population density and poverty rate based on the latest official data issued by the Ministry of Planning. The official spokesperson for the ministry, engineer Istabraq Sabah, explained that the technical committees for implementing the initiative distributed the lands among fifteen provinces according to precise criteria ensuring justice and actual need, as the capital Baghdad topped the list with 192,000 residential plots, followed by Basra with 135,000 plots, then Nineveh with 88,000 plots, and holy Karbala with 60,000 residential plots. He added that the distribution also included the provinces of Kirkuk with 54,000 plots, Diwaniyah with 51,000 plots, Anbar with 45,000 plots, while the share of each of Dhi Qar and Diyala reached 43,000 residential plots, Salah al-Din 42,000 plots, while 35,000 plots were allocated to each of Najaf al-Ashraf and Muthanna, 34,000 plots to Wasit, up to Maysan whose share reached 29,000 residential plots. The spokesperson confirmed that these figures are approximate and candidates for continuous increase according to the capacity of municipal departments and relevant authorities to allocate and parse more land plots in all provinces. The initiative was not limited to land distribution alone, but was accompanied by a package of financing and developmental measures, as the ministry indicated that those included in the distribution will obtain financial support through facilitated loans provided by government and private banks to help build their housing units and overcome financial challenges. Regarding the file of delivering basic services and infrastructure to these wide spaces, Sabah explained that coordination and joint agreement are underway with donors, investors, and real estate developers according to two flexible mechanisms stipulated by Cabinet resolutions No. 459 and 460 for the current year 2026. He indicated that resolution No. 459 encourages private sector contribution through the investor's entry as a real estate developer in an integrated developmental project provided that a free share is presented to the state of no less than fifty percent of the serviced lands within the total area of the proposed project. As for resolution No. 460, it allows persons, companies, or donating entities to finance and implement infrastructure for a group of lands to submit their requests to the concerned governor in exchange for granting them privileges including obtaining a share of the lands whose services they financed reaching twenty percent as a maximum of the total plots associated with the donation. In conclusion, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Construction noted that preparations are underway at a fast pace to launch the electronic link for applying to the initiative during the current month by the Prime Minister's Office, which will in turn announce the official regulations and criteria for differentiation among applicants in preparation for starting electronic sorting and receiving applications of deserving citizens according to a transparent and organized mechanism.