Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Tuesday, September 16, 2003 South Central Regional Governors’ conference Al Hilla, Babil Province. Governors from the South Central Region met on Monday to discuss issues affecting their six provinces. The region includes the following provinces: Al Anbar, Babil, Karbala, Najaf, Qadisiyah, and Wasit. The South Central region represents a third of Iraq’s 18 provinces, half the land mass of Iraq, and about 40% of the country’s population. At the first Governors’ Meeting in August, the Governors mentioned the following major concerns: electricity, fuel, unemployment, and security. Since then, CPA has acted on all four issues. Electricity – CPA plans to provide generators to target idle industry and has signed agreements to import electricity from Turkey and Syria. CPA is also working to get additional security on the electrical infrastructure. Fuel – Repairs to the Basrah gas pipeline were accelerated and pressure has been restored to required levels to support gas fired generators in the South-Central region. Fuels are being imported to assist with supply needs. Unemployment – CPA developed a program to employ over 100,000 people throughout Iraq, including within the South-Central region. Additional power generating capacity should affect an additional 30,000 directly and could generate more than 100,000 additional new jobs in the South Central Region. Security – CPA has established the Department of Border Enforcement and expanded the Facility Protection Services. CPA South-Central also purchased over $1.2 million in radio equipment to assist in more effective law enforcement in the region. Ambassador Bremer sent his representative, Scott Carpenter, who is CPA’s Director of Governance. During his comments to the governors, Mr. Carpenter said, “we recognize we succeed only if we succeed together...and the challenges you have raised are challenges that need to be met...more than this, they are challenges that will be met.” President Bush has asked for $20 billion for Iraq. This is $4 billion more than the entire budget for Iraq this year and is the largest single request for any country ever. The Coalition is optimistic about Iraq and will continue to help the Iraqi people progress toward self-government. As the Governor of Diwaniyah stated, we need "to make democracy the guiding light for the future of Iraq."