KIRKUK, Iraq — Piles of trash line many of the streets and alleys of Kirkuk, with the government saying it cannot afford to pay for its collection.
“At every corner of the streets and alleys of this city, there are piles of garbage. This has indeed made the residents upset,” said Ahmed Assi, a Kurdish resident of Kirkuk.
With inadequate funds to pay for municipal services, many government offices in the city have stopped providing essential services.
Kirkuk civil society members say the garbage has led to food contamination and disease.
The trash “goes underground and contaminates the food items that we buy on a daily basis, especially the vegetables,” Shkova Mohammed, a member of the Supreme Board of a Green Kurdistan, told Rudaw.
The Kirkuk Municipality says they receive an inadequate monthly budget, which does not come close to meeting their needs.
“There are 1,000 to 1,200 tons of garbage in Kirkuk a day. [...] The money that is available to us is not enough to clear the city of even 200 tons of garbage. We are unable to do it,” Faraidoon Zangana, head of Kirkuk’s Central Municipality.
On October 16, 2017, Iraqi forces retook control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas.
The disputed province of Kirkuk recieves funds directly from Iraq's ministries, unlike most other provinces, which are given a specific allocation in the federal budget.
Translation by Zhelwan Zeyad Wali
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