$35 million funding for Gaza Strip municipalities

The Gulf Cooperation Council program to reconstruct Gaza continues to fund street and road rehabilitation and maintenance projects in the Gaza Strip and has granted $35.7 million to Gaza municipalities through the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah.

The Director General of the department of coordination and facilitation of aid in PECDAR, Wael Salah, has made a statement explaining that the projects funded included a number of roads and streets in need of repair and maintenance in order for them to be suitable for traffic and to prevent accidents.

He also added that most municipalities in the Strip will benefit from these projects, and stressed the program’s interest in the road sector as it significantly impacts people’s lives and the mobility of the residents.

He also pointed out that the project funded five bundles of road and street maintenance and rehabilitation projects, such as the Coastal Road, which is 6 km long, the expansion of Gamal Abdel Nasser Street between Rafah and Khan Younis, the completion of the Al-Tufah Street in Khan Younis, as well as the Coastal Road.

The bundles also included the maintenance and completion of Al-Mughrabi Street, the streets in Al-Sheikh Radwan and Al-Manara neighbourhoods in Gaza, Al-Rasheed and Abu Baker Al-Sidiq Streets in Rafah, the main road in Beit Lahia, Al-Bahar Street in Jabaliya, Abu Baker Al-Sidiq Street in Al-Nuseirat, Al-Sultan and Number 5 Street in Khan Younis, and various other streets and roads.

In regards to funding the municipalities in the Strip and enabling them to perform their various duties, the program funded the reconstruction of the destroyed municipality office buildings (Bani Suhaila municipal building), Gaza municipal building, The Centre for Children’s Happiness, the destroyed municipal buildings in Jabaliya, and a destroyed slaughterhouse in northern Gaza.

The program also funds the supply and maintenance of equipment for municipal and refugee camps solid waste services. It also funded the construction of a waste transfer station in Khan Younis, the transfer of waste to the main stations and the construction of the western side of the Wadi Gaza Bridge.

The GCC reconstruction of Gaza program continues to execute projects and allocated funds have reached $367.1 million through the six bundles covering all the sectors damaged by the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in late 2008.