TEHRAN – A budget of 290 trillion rials (nearly $7 billion) will be allotted to reconstruct and repair housing units destructed by flood in 18 provinces across the country, Mehdi Jamalinejad, deputy interior minister for urban and rural development has announced.

Flood has devastated some 169,377 housing units, 68,333 of which are beyond repair and must be reconstructed, he stated, adding, some 101,062 houses have been partially destroyed.

Moreover, household appliances of 109,832 families also have suffered damages, he further regretted.

He went on to say that 20,000 housing units, undergone devastation by recent flooding in Aq-Oala county in northern Golestan province, are under construction.

Non-repayable loans amounting to 25 trillion rials (nearly $600 million) will be provided for retrofitting of houses, 7.4 trillion rials (around $177 million) will also be earmarked to compensate for the infrastructure damages, he explained.

Some 56,550 flood survivors have applied to receive the loans, of them 25,629 have been introduced to the banks by the housing foundation and 2,482 of them have so far received the loans, he added.

He further expressed hope that the whole houses undergone partial destruction will be fully retrofitted by the next 2 months, and houses requiring reconstruction will also be completed by the next [Iranian calendar] year (starting in March 2020).

Referring to the Construction Basij [affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], collaborating in reconstruction of the houses, he noted that 40,000 housing units will be constructed for the underprivileged affected by flood.

He also said that Budget and Planning Organization has allocated some 70 trillion rials (nearly $1.7 billion) to reconstruction of the flood-stricken areas.

Ismail Najjar, head of National Disaster Management Organization, also said that more than 169,000 housing units in 21 provinces are damaged by the floods which must be either repaired, rebuilt, or retrofitted.

Flood victims will be also provided with allowances to pay for their rents while their houses are being reconstructed, Najjar concluded.

Torrential rain started on March 19 led to flood in at least 25 out of 31 provinces of Iran and caused extensive damage to the houses, schools, urban and rural infrastructure, crops and livestock. Provinces of Lorestan, Golestan, and Khuzestan are hit the hardest with the flooding.

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