BAIJI, Iraq — Despite being liberated from the Islamic State (ISIS) group over five years ago, Salahaddin province’s city of Baiji is still largely in disrepair.
Collapsed buildings are found across the city, many devastated in its reconquest by Iraqi forces.
Residents are frustrated, reporting having received no compensation from the government to rebuild.
“We had hoped for support from the central government after the blowing up of our houses, but so far no compensation has been paid to those houses that were blown up during the military operations,” Ghazi Majeed, a resident of the city, told Rudaw on Saturday. “We work hard and we rebuild them slowly, but we have not been compensated.”
The city’s population stood at nearly 173,000 prior to ISIS taking control, according to Salahaddin’s assistant governor for technical affairs. It now only has 60,000 residents.
A lack of jobs and basic services have hampered the return of IDPs to the city.
“There were 20 families in this alley. Of this, only four of the owners of the houses have returned so far. The reason is that most of their houses have collapsed,” Abdullah Akram, a retiree, told Rudaw on Saturday. “How can they return? There is no electricity and water, why should they return? They have mostly moved to Sulaimani, Erbil and Baghdad.”
The lack of reconstruction efforts by the government worries its residents, who are not receiving compensation to fix things themselves.
“I lost three of my relatives. My house collapsed. I have submitted documents for compensation, but it [my application] has been suspended. They give priority to those who submitted documents earlier,” city resident Mohammed Jabber told Rudaw on Saturday. “There are a lot of people who haven’t been compensated.”
Two of Baiji’s largest oil refineries have been badly damaged in the fight to retake them.
Mohammed Jabbour, the assistant governor of Salahaddin province for technical affairs, says that Baiji is still completely dilapidated.
The city’s fall to ISIS and the reconquest of the city “affected the city's property and infrastructure, it also affected the social conditions,” said the official. “So far, most of the population of Baiji and Seneia town have not returned due to a lack of services and reconstruction. The compensation process is too slow and has not been sufficient.”
Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
