KRG to build residential units for Christian tenants

The location of the project and the low-income eligible tenants will be decided by local authorities, he said.

Kurdistan 24 2022/12/31 11:17

Worshippers attend a Christmas eve service at Mart Shmoni Syriac Orthodox church in the Ankawa, Dec. 24, 2022. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)

Kurdistan Iraq Kurdistan Region Ankawa Christians

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Nearly 700 apartments are set to be built for Christian tenants in the Kurdistan Region’s Ankawa district in the future, the chief of the investment board told Kurdistan 24.

At the request of local authorities in the Christian-majority town of Ankawa, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has made the decision as part of the government’s recent plan to build 20,000 residential units for tenants, Mohammad Shukry, the head of the Board of Investment, told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

The location of the project and the low-income eligible tenants will be decided by local authorities, he said.

The project contains 80, 100, and 120 square meters of apartments, whose payment plan is for 15 years, the official.

In addition, to help tenants with better housing, the decision also aims to protect the Christian identity of the area – which has become the biggest Christian district in the Middle East after its administrative status was upgraded last year, according to Shukry.

Following the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, thousands of Christians fled to Kurdistan Region, where they sought sanctuary in the multi-ethnic and Christian-majority town whose population is estimated to be nearly 60,000 residents.

Religious leaders of the community on several occasions have praised the government’s efforts to protect Christians, whose numbers have been shrinking in Iraq since 2003 due to persecution and terrorism.