Iraqi inaction in Fallujah has stalled reconstruction of local businesses

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Much of the Sina’a industrial district in eastern Fallujah remains as devastated today as it was right after Marines pushed through the area during 2004’s Battle of Fallujah. Despite a 2005 pledge by the Iraqi government to provide more than $100 million in compensation to more than 40 businesses and factories in Sina’a, the money has not materialized. Marines and Iraqis in Fallujah say the funds are a vital next step for the city now that security has improved.


Iraqi inaction in Fallujah has stalled reconstruction of local businesses
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, March 2, 2008

FALLUJAH, Iraq — To hear him tell it, Khalid Zayouna’s factory here was so nice and modern that Marines commandeered it during 2004’s Battle of Fallujah.

But Modern Arab Finishing Co., Khalid’s family-owned factory that produced kitchen cabinets and doors, was destroyed during that epic fight. He wasn’t the only local business owner to lose out.

Most of Fallujah’s industrial heart and source of employment, known as the “Sina’a district,” was destroyed in the fighting.

More than three years later, Khalid said he still hasn’t gotten his business running again because he is waiting on promised insurance money from the federal government. Most Sina’a business owners are in the same boat.

In all, more than $100 million in insurance compensation was pledged by the Iraqi government to more than 40 Sina’a factory and business owners in early 2005. That money still has not materialized.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52994