Ministry of Construction Initiates Land Ownership Transfer for "Million Plots" Initiative

The Ministry of Construction, Housing and Public Municipalities has initiated coordination with relevant authorities to begin procedures for transferring ownership of lands designated for Prime Minister Ali Zaidi's initiative to distribute one million plots to eligible citizens. Ministry Spokesperson Istarq Sabah stated that the General Directorate of Municipalities, represented by the technical committees and related entities, is preparing for these procedures. He clarified that coordination is underway with municipal departments, the Ministries of Defense and Agriculture, and the Directorate of Real Estate Registration and State Properties, to address technical obstacles, resolve land overlaps, and delineate plots allocated for the initiative. Sabah revealed that 275,000 land plots have been allocated as a first phase in Baghdad and all governorates. He noted the presence of lands with agricultural rights requiring compensation for their owners by the Ministry of Agriculture, and others belonging to the Ministry of Defense as part of its plan to assign ownership to its personnel, such as Al-Fursan City in Nahrawan. Sabah emphasized that transferring land ownership to municipal departments requires the completion of their master designs to determine whether they fall within municipal boundaries. He added that governorates are currently working on finalizing these specific designs or expanding existing ones. The Ministry's spokesperson reported that specialized authorities are actively addressing these procedures through intensive meetings to accelerate the initiative's transition to an advanced implementation phase. A comprehensive official electronic platform and link are scheduled to be launched to receive applications from targeted citizens next October. Sabah announced that five governorates have declared their readiness to implement the initiative: Holy Karbala, Holy Najaf, Anbar, Muthanna, and Maysan. Coordination continues with the remaining governorates. He pointed out that the calculation of land plots in each governorate is based on population census and the poverty rate, as determined by the Ministry of Planning. Sabah stressed that the country's actual need for housing units currently stands at 2.3 million, affirming that Prime Minister Ali Zaidi's initiative will significantly address a large portion of this need in Baghdad and the governorates.