Handover Ceremony of Solid Waste and Sewage Treatment Vehicles and of Equipment for Repair and Maintenance of Roads in Samawah, Iraq

May 16, 2006

1. With Japan's Official Development Assistance, various equipments to improve the public welfare of Samawah City have been provided, and the handover ceremony of the equipments took place on May 14. The Ministry of Public Works of Iraq purchased 219 solid waste and sewage treatment vehicles with Japan's emergency grant aid for the Project for Provision of Equipment for Solid Waste Management in Samawah, and the Department of Samawah Municipality purchased equipment for the repair and maintenance of roads with Japan's grassroots human security grant aid for the Project for Provision of Equipment for Repair and Maintenance of Roads in Samawah. The handover ceremony of 33 of the 219 vehicles which were delivered to the Governorate of Al-Muthanna and the equipment for repair and maintenance of roads was held on May 14 (Sun) at the etape of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force in Samawah, attended on the Iraqi side by the representatives of the Department of the Governorate of Al-Muthanna Municipality and other officials concerned, and on the Japanese side by representatives of the Liaison Office in Samawah of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.
2. In addition to the unimproved solid waste and sewage treatment system and facilities, the Ministry of Public Works and local governments are suffering from the insufficient collection and treatment of solid waste and sewage. Therefore, most of the country's waste and sewage is left untreated in its residential areas, public facilities, open spaces, roads and other places. The situation requires immediate improvement from a sanitary as well as an aesthetic point of view.
   
   The solid waste and sewage treatment vehicles will be provided for the Department of the Governorate of Al-Muthanna Municipality. Together with the solid waste treatment equipment that the Department had purchased separately utilizing the fund provided by Japan's emergency grant assistance (Project for Provision of Equipment for Solid Waste Management in Samawah), the vehicles are expected to contribute to improving the hygiene of the Governorate and the solid waste management capacity of the Department.
3. Samawah, the central city of the Governorate of Al-Muthanna, through which the main highway in southern Iraq, National Route 8 passes, suffers heavy traffic and severe damage to its roads. The Department of Samawah Municipality, however, lacks the road construction equipment necessary to conduct long-term repairs of the damaged roads, resulting in delays in road repair, traffic jams and other problems.
   
   It is expected that the use of cranes and other road-repair equipment will enable the Department to carry out long-term repair of the damaged roads and to accelerate repair work, improving the traffic situation including the amelioration of traffic congestion and activating even further the social and economic activities of the Samawah citizens.

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