KUWAIT: UN Habitat-GCC said Tuesday it received a $600,000 donation from Kuwait Society for Relief to rebuild damaged houses in Iraq, head of the UN agency said Tuesday. Dr Amira Al-Hassan, in a statement to the press after receiving the donation, said the UN Habitat was one of the UN agencies with a mandate to provide sustainable social and environmental support for cities and towns.

She said local communities would be involved in the reconstruction process, a method that empowered people socially and economically thus contributing to peace and stability. UN Habitat will carry out reconstruction in areas that were recently liberated from militants in a drive to facilitate voluntary return of their original inhabitants, said Hassan.

Since 2015, she added, the agency rebuilt more than 3,000 houses destroyed by conflicts including in Western Mosul, Ninewa, Senjar, Ramadi and Fallujah. UN Habitat engineers will conduct technical assessment of the damages before reconstruction.

Hassan said UN Habitat was committed to promoting proper services, housing and jobs for people affected by conflicts. Therefore, the UN agency would involve Iraqi individuals in this process in order to create jobs coupled with solid presence of UN engineers in order to guarantee quality of reconstruction.

Abdulaziz Al-Obaid, Director General of Kuwait Society for Relief, said the society sought through UN Habitat-GCC to improve living conditions of people in need in Iraq. Obaid said the society was extending relief assistance around the world regardless of gender, color or religion. - KUNA