Iraq needs to build more than two million homes to ease a growing housing crisis, the country's minister of construction and housing said on Sunday.
Baker al-Zubaidi told Reuters in an interview that a shortage of housing was a major problem that would need at least 10 years and considerable investment to solve.
"The cause of this problem is the previous regime, which didn't build a single housing complex since 1982," he said.
The minister, who had 13 members of his family executed under Saddam Hussein, added: "The funding and land used for just one of Saddam's palaces could been used for 50,000 houses capable of housing a quarter of a million Iraqis."
Baghdad's housing problem is underlined by the thousands of squatters who moved into government buildings and accommodation after the fall of Saddam and refused to leave unless they were given an alternative place to live.
The Ministry of Construction and Housing has unveiled plans to develop seven modern housing complexes, scheduled to be completed by mid-2005, to house thousands of Iraqis. But the minister said this would only solve a fraction of the problem.
Heavily damaged buildings bombed during the war still dominate the Baghdad skyline almost a year after the US-led invasion toppled the Iraqi dictator.
Reconstruction has been slow in coming, and basic necessities such as electricity and clean water remain in short supply, angering many Iraqis.
Zubaidi said reconstruction would pick up speed once oil revenues were in full flow and money allocated for reconstructing Iraq was disbursed.
He said significant projects would be implemented this year. The largest project, valued at $200 million, is improvement of a 160-km (100-mile) stretch of highway between the southern towns of Diwaniya and Nassiriya.
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