Slemani — Authorities in Halabja Governorate have resumed efforts to complete 13 education-sector projects that have remained suspended for more than a decade, after securing preliminary approval from the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Education to transfer oversight of the projects to the governorate.
Halabja Governor Nuksha Nasih announced that the projects, which include schools, kindergartens, and an Institute of Fine Arts, have been stalled since 2014.
Speaking to Channel 8, Nasih said she recently met with Kurdistan Region Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed and submitted an official letter regarding the delayed projects.
According to the governor, the projects were initially planned to be financed through petrodollar allocations before later being included in the investment budget. However, work on them was halted and has remained suspended for the past 12 years.
Nasih said the governorate requested that responsibility for supervising the implementation of the projects be transferred from the ministry to local authorities in order to accelerate their completion.
“We requested that supervision of the projects be handed over to the governorate to ensure their rapid implementation, and the minister expressed his approval of our request,” she said.
The governor added that the combined value of the 13 projects is estimated at approximately $15 million.
Officials hope that transferring oversight to the governorate will help restart construction and address educational infrastructure needs in Halabja after years of delays.
