Kirkuk: The Planning Department is actively conducting field visits to school construction projects in Kirkuk to investigate the reasons behind their suspension. The Ministry of Planning continues its oversight of the contracts related to school construction projects under the Ministry’s Project No. (1), aiming to assess progress and identify obstacles hindering workflow.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, a ministry statement revealed that the monitoring and site visits included the implementation of the second contract for the project to construct 40 schools to replace dilapidated buildings using prefabricated concrete construction methods. This initiative includes four schools in Kirkuk Governorate, as well as others in Diyala and Nineveh Governorates. The schools feature 18 classrooms over three floors and others with six classrooms over two floors, constructed using conventional methods. Despite reaching an overall completion rate of 62%, the project is currently experiencing a work stoppage.

The statement further detailed that the ministry team is also following up on the implementation of the third contract for the project to construct 65 schools using prefabricated concrete in the governorates of Kirkuk, Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, and Diyala. These schools are built in a standard two-story construction style with capacities of 12 and 9 classrooms. The completion rate for this contract has reached 53.40%.

The ministry has urged relevant authorities to expedite the resolution of the obstacles causing the work stoppage and to secure the necessary requirements for resuming project implementation. They emphasize the importance of ensuring that these projects are completed according to specified timelines and commissioned as soon as possible.