Iraq reportedly taking new measures to solve housing problem

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) -- Iraq has allocated about $750 million under its oil-for-food deal with the U.N. to solve a growing housing problem, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told the weekly al-Rafidain newspaper that Baghdad had imported 1 million tons of construction steel bars and was contracted for a similar amount expected to arrive shortly.

He said the materials would be enough to build 1.2 million residential units.

Earlier this month, the trade ministry announced it would sell construction materials to Iraqis at half the commercial rate.

No figures are available on how many Iraqis are homeless, but official sources say the problem has been aggravated since international sanctions were imposed on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait 10 years ago.

The ministry's move came only a week after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told his government to distribute thousands of plots of land to Iraqis so they could build their own homes with government help.

The U.N. sanctions bar Iraq from trading freely with the outside world. Still, the U.N. has allowed Baghdad since December 1996 to export oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian needs for the Iraqi people.

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