Iraq’s Kirkuk Governorate has resumed work on the project to update the urban master plan for the governorate which includes creating new residential neighborhoods and expansion of the city centre.

The project’s supervising engineer Mazen Abdel-Wahab told the Iraqi News Agency that under the updated plan, the city centre would be expanded by 100 square kilometres. The new plan provides for 120 new residential neighborhoods housing 175,000 units, 10 new hospitals, commercial complexes, and would be implemented over a period of 15 years.

He added that work on the plan started in 2014 but was delayed due to the war on ISIS and the COVID-19 pandemic.