Minster proposes UN funding for war-damaged housing, infrastructure
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadeq Malvajerd proposed that the UN-founded World Urban Forum (WUF) establish a support fund for countries affected by crises, aimed at helping rebuild housing units and infrastructure damaged in war-affected states.
According to ISNA, during the recent war between the United States and Israel against Iran, about 150,000 housing units were destroyed, leaving residents homeless.
The minister said that infrastructure, including several bridges as well as road and rail networks considered key pillars of safe and resilient urban living, was also severely damaged in the attacks.
A government spokesperson said the 40-day US-Israeli war caused an estimated $270 billion in damage to Iran. A parliamentary economic committee estimated that $28.5 billion of that figure related to non-civilian sectors.
In Tehran, 44,750 housing units were damaged, while 99,878 residential and non-residential units in other cities were also affected, as reported by ISNA.
So far, repairs to 37,000 lightly damaged housing units have been completed. The government is providing temporary housing assistance to those whose homes were destroyed, offering between about $1,667 to $3,889 (300 million and 700 million tomans) in smaller cities and about $11,111 (2 billion tomans) in Tehran. However, funding for the reconstruction of completely destroyed homes has not yet been approved.
In a message to the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF-13) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sadeq Malvajerd emphasized the need for international support to rebuild damaged cities and strengthen implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
Her remarks were read on Sunday at the ministerial session of WUF-13 by Gholamreza Kazemian, deputy minister for urban planning and architecture at the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
“While we speak about safe and resilient cities, in some parts of the world children are still facing the sound of missiles and bombardment, and many homes have been destroyed as a result of war,” Sadeq Malvajerd said in the message.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of years of urban history, has been exposed to war twice over the past year, raising serious questions about the feasibility of planning for sustainable urban development under such conditions,” she added.
Iran was subjected to a 12-day Israeli attack in June and later a 40-day joint US-Israeli offensive at the end of February.