University of Baghdad in Community Service

Based on the principle of supporting our university to serve the Iraqi community, a higher committee has been formed headed by the respected President of the University of Baghdad, Prof. Dr. Munir Hamid Al-Saadi, and the membership of the following:

1. Prof. Dr. Abdul Karim Muhammad Ali Jabr – The Deputy President for Scientific Affairs
2. Prof. Dr. Saba Jabbar Ne’ma – Dean of the College of Engineering
3. Prof. Dr. Kadhum Deily Hassan -Dean of the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences
4. Prof. Dr. Firas Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Latif -Dean of the College of Education for Pure Sciences – Ibn Al-Haytham
5. Prof. Dr. Ammar Taher Muhammad – Dean of the Faculty of Information
6. Prof. Dr. Wasan Saeed Abboud – Dean of the Faculty of Arts
7. Prof. Dr. Muwafaq Muhammad Jawad – Dean of the Faculty of Languages
8. Prof. Dr. Suhail Najm Abdullah – Dean of the College of Administration and Economics
9. Prof. Dr. Mudhad Ajeel Hassan – Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts
10. Prof. Dr. Maher Yahya Salloum – Dean of Al-Khwarizmi College of Engineering

The Higher Committee has taken the responsibility of preparing a study that examines the reality of Baghdad governorate and suggests proposals regarding the ways that help to improve its reality from several main axes:

     Baghdad, the capital, is one of the sprawling cities that has been suffering from a halt in growth within the infrastructure and a lack of many projects. The availability of treatment pre-planning for the capital involves mixing the expertise of private sector institutions with that of governmental institutions on the one hand. On the other hand, the local and international expertise of individuals and discreet institutions needs to be integrated. The term individual here refers to the Iraqi competent figures abroad, who have the desire and impulse to transfer their expertise along with local expertise. Further, the city of Baghdad includes several universities, which can be houses of expertise that provide scientific advice, supervise many projects in colleges, departments, and scientific branches, and meet partnerships with foreign academic institutions.

     Thus, the role of the university is important through the preparation of graduates and sustaining and continuing education in a way that serves the institutions of the state and the private sector to achieve the sustainability and development of graduates. Universities can also provide a lot of scientific support that can be recruited in the labor market with its various specializations and integrated with its requirements through the output of faculty members’ scientific research or through postgraduate research. The success of universities in this task requires believing in the role they play, as well as providing appropriate support at various levels. The following list offers some general ideas and visions that contribute to the development of our beloved governorates:

     After 2003, Iraq in general and Baghdad witnessed the influx of large numbers of vehicles from abroad, which led to traffic jams in the streets of Baghdad. Despite the government’s attempts to curb the process of importing cars via issuing a law that determines the product year of the imported cars, their annual increase average, in Baghdad generally, has not dropped below 6%. Now that the vehicle ownership rate in Baghdad has reached (one vehicle per 10 inhabitants), with no improvements or changes being made to the network, the transportation problem in Baghdad has worsened and will continue to deteriorate in the coming years unless deliberate changes and improvements are made to it. As for the bridges, which are part of the transportation network in Baghdad that connect the two sides of Al-Karkh to Al-Rusafa, there has been no change in their numbers since the mid-nineties.

     Speaking of intersections in Baghdad, whose number reaches more than 130, they have undergone some improvements, like that converting them from ground intersections that operate with a traffic signal system to bridge intersections with two levels (the designs were prepared by various local companies and consulting offices for more than 30 intersections, and only 3 have been completed so far, and there is a fourth under construction). It is worth noting here that such solutions without constructing new roads and axes transfer the problem from one place to another and quickly turn them into a new bottleneck that may increase traffic confusion. Accordingly, it is better to study the intersection within a network and not separately when constructing them. Such steps help set the road and bridge system in the right direction towards a modern road network that is free of ground intersections.

     In this vein, the Ministry of Planning contracted with consultants (Scott Wilson, Kirk Patrick and their partners) in 1979 to conduct a study on “The Comprehensive Transportation of the City of Baghdad”. This study was preceded by another study on transportation in (1972) by the French Otam Company titled: (A Study of the Traffic Network and the Traffic Light System for the City of Baghdad).

     Scott Wilson’s study (1979-1983) on comprehensive transportation in the city of Baghdad requires that the consultant develops and tests alternative transportation strategies to reach appropriate solutions. Such solutions can meet the transportation requirements later until the year 2000 (the targeted year of the study), and thus, four public transportation alternatives were selected. These strategies are:

Strategy No. 1: Public transport buses only.

Strategy No. 2: Buses + the first stage of the Baghdad metro (32 km), buses operate separately from the metro.

Strategy No. 3: Buses + the first stage of the Baghdad metro (32 km), buses operate in a coordinated manner to feed the metro.

Strategy No. 4: Buses + the first stage of the metro (32 km) + extensions of the first stage of the metro (15 km). Buses operate in a coordinated manner to feed the metro.

     The strategies were examined and evaluated from several aspects: operational, financial, economic, engineering, and environmental. Then, they were compared with one another using the transportation model that was built and developed during the study phase. The results of the evaluation and recommendation came to recommend strategy No. (1): Public transport buses only. This is because this strategy provides all public transport requirements in the future at a partial cost compared to other strategies, in addition to its ease of application and suitability to the changing circumstances. Accordingly, a plan for the road network in Baghdad was issued from this study, as shown in the Diagram below:

     The Tigris River divides Baghdad into two parts. The length of the river inside Baghdad is about 60 km, starting from Al-Muthanna Bridge in the north until the river meets the Diyala River, south of Baghdad. In recent years, it has been noticed a significant decrease in the flow of the river water in all seasons, especially during the summer, by 44%; in addition to a general decrease in the water level, especially in the city of Baghdad. Such a decrease is due to the lack of rain and the establishment of hydraulic facilities in Turkey, the source of the river; a matter which affected the operation of water supply projects (clear water liquefaction). Accordingly, it has been proposed to study the characteristics of the Tigris River inside the city of Baghdad using (HEC-RAS) program. Further, it has also been proposed the following: determining and studying the water level in the river during the flood seasons; identifying the flood-prone areas in the event when the passing discharges exceed 13330 m3/s, and determining the treatments required to secure those areas from the risk of flooding by rehabilitating, developing, refining the cross-sections of the river, raising the level of dams on both sides of the river as well, and removing the excesses that would reduce the absorptive capacity of the river and help to pass the flood wave. The study also involves investigating and renewing the water levels for the scarce discharges in the dry seasons (scarce seasons); in addition to studying and determining the operational levels required for water liquefaction projects located along the course of the river within the city of Baghdad during the drought periods.

     In order to put an end to the deterioration of water resources and to preserve the infrastructure of Baghdad Governorate, the following has been proposed:

• Stopping the disposal of partially or completely treated liquid and solid pollutants from the controlled or uncontrolled outlets to Tigris River, and developing solutions for them through determining the untreated sewage points, the waste from governmental and non-governmental factories, the direct discharge points from the sewage pumping, Al- Rustamiya and Al-Karkh sewage stations, and the agricultural sewage waste that are all indexed by the Ministry of Health and Environment/Baghdad Environment Department, and Baghdad Municipality, Ministry of Water Resources/Department of Water Resources in Baghdad.
• Stopping the excretion of treated gaseous pollutants, partially or completely, from the controlled or uncontrolled outlets of the factories, and developing solutions for them in a manner that preserves the public health of Baghdad governorate’s residents.
• Developing the current engineering and technical staff responsible for the design, implementation and operation of water and sewage networks, pumping stations, sewage treatment plants and water purification plants through adopting integrated development programs. Such programs help to raise the scientific, administrative and operational levels by adhering to the technical specifications specified in the design, implementation or operation, and help employ specialized engineering staff, such as sanitary and environment engineers, as they have experience in this field.
• Evaluating the status of all water and sewage infrastructure networks and their relationship to the investment expansion of residential complexes, and developing solutions for them or moving to a decentralized management of water and sewage stations (Decentralization) to reduce the implementation, operation and maintenance costs.
• Assessing the state of solid waste management and treatment in Baghdad governorate, the extent of compliance with the engineering standards, and developing a scientific plan for its development in a manner that guarantees the safety of groundwater and getting benefits from its return as engineering sustainability.
• Requesting the help of international, discreet and experienced companies in the water and sewage sector, using modern technologies when designing, implementing, operating and monitoring, and preparing an integrated maintenance program to be within the framework of engineering sustainability.

• Conducting future studies by the governorate and in cooperation with university institutions to qualify and prepare human resources capable of bringing about the desired development and facing contemporary scientific and technological changes.
• Reconsidering the vision, mission and goals set by Baghdad Governorate in line with the developments and expansion taking place and meeting the requirements of the Baghdadi individual and society.
• Developing a clear administrative and organizational strategic plan for Baghdad governorate administration for the next five years, in addition to dealing with reality, and working to improve it in the future.
• Reconsidering the organizational structure of Baghdad governorate in terms of administration and organization, in a way that makes it more flexible and streamlined in work to be able to deal with the expansion of the city.
• Introducing information, communication technology, and everything related to modern administration, and applying decentralization in a manner that achieves quality and smoothness in the administrative work in the governorate departments.
• Reconsidering the design and reconstruction of streets and internal and annual roads of Baghdad City in line with the expansion and the services provided.
• Obliging the provincial council and its municipal councils to put social responsibility and citizen service among the first priorities to meet the needs and requirements of the society.
• Establishing a specialized office at the level of the university or colleges for the purpose of serving the city or the governorate and for maintaining social responsibility towards society.
• Coordinating with university institutions to determine the university’s outputs and linking them with the needs of the labor market, especially the departments affiliated with the Baghdad governorate.
• Finding solutions to the problems occurring in the Ministry of Education and its directorates with respect to the educational aspect and teaching methods.
• Developing a face recognition system to distinguish individuals using a face print, based on face recognition algorithms (Face Recognition), artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms.
• Establishing a wheel number recognition system for cars in Baghdad, using image processing techniques and artificial intelligence, and taking advantage of the cameras system distributed in the streets of the capital.
• Developing automation and database systems to build an integrated information system that includes information about all the residents of the governorate. Such a step is important for information storage and retrieval when adopting the electronic governance project; it further makes information available to the relevant ministries and state departments.
• Developing the personnel system for state employees administratively and financially, and storing all data related to administrative and financial employees from the time they start working in the institution until their retirement.
• Developing electronic systems for government services to facilitate the completion of many tasks without the need for the citizen to visit the institution. Such a step saves time and effort, including systems for managing and handling citizens’ complaints about the services.
• Creating an electronic system to track the places of road congestion by linking the roads to a monitored camera with a central control. This system will greatly assist emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, fires, and others.
• Developing technical programs and procedures to follow up on social media for society and youth in particular, and harnessing them in a way that serves the positive aspect for both the individual and the society.
• Establishing funds to provide repaid loans to students and youth, following the provincial councils, to carry out small projects and open horizons for them to be able after their graduation or obtaining a job to pay them back.
• Coordinating with the various institutions and ministries to provide job opportunities for students during the summer vacation to save sums of money that could be spent during the study period to meet their needs.
• Activating university hospital projects to serve the community and to provide an academic space in hospitals.
• Putting an end to random housing that distorted the city, represented a transgression against the state and the aesthetics of the city, and obstructed the urban planning process. This step involves finding alternative housing areas for residents according to municipal planning and working to activate the housing law in a way that prevents the spread of selling alcohol and alcoholic beverages shops among residential areas, which causes confusion and breaches the security of the families living in these areas.
• Investing in the old and abandoned buildings in Baghdad, such as the buildings of the central markets and the building of the Turkish restaurant, in a way that serves the public interest. Such as step enables street vendors to exploit such buildings for symbolic fees in a clean manner and under the central supervision of Baghdad Municipality, achieving as a result an honorable civilizational appearance.
• Addressing the phenomenon of homeless, beggars, mentally disturbed and elderly people.
• Benefiting from Egypt’s experience in commissioning the armed forces to build housing complexes and other projects.
• Organizing billboards in the public streets, in the median islands, in front of commercial stores, medical clinics, etc.
• Using electronic screens, identification boards, and light guidance arrows in the important public streets and at the entrances to the administrative borders of the capital.
• Reviving cinemas, theatres, literary forums and cultural salons to highlight the cultural face of Baghdad city and the cultural depth of its inhabitants.
• Removing the official state departments of continuous citizens’ visiting outside the center of the capital to ease the momentum in the center on the one hand, revive the other areas, and make them inhabitable and habitable, especially the outskirts of Baghdad, on the other.
• Succeeding the general population census on which most of the country’s strategic plans are based.

Table 1 showcases a set of strategic problems and proposals for solutions:

Table 1

Showcasing a number of Strategic Problems and their Suggested Solutions

Strategic Problem	Strategic Goal	Strategic Initiation
The weakness of contemporary management practices in adopting a strategic approach that helps develop the offered services and improve their levels in a way that contributes to achieving quality services.	Developing and upgrading administrative work practices and adopting contemporary management theories.	Strategies formulation Strategic performance evaluation Pioneering business models Developing governance practices Developing total quality management practices
Having a functional slouch.	Evaluating and streamlining organizational structures, and developing flexible organizational structures capable of responding to the requirements of the contemporary work environment.	Restructuring Job Description
Experiencing a weak interest in capacity building and administrative development of leadership, middle and executive management.	Developing and investing in human capital and creating knowledge makers, who are able to develop pioneering work practices.	Strategic leadership training Human resources training
A rentier economy with weak productivity in various economic fields.	Bringing about a radical change in the economic reality, adopting an approach that stabilizes the economic situation, and providing strategic resources and precautions that enable the state to overcome crises.	economic reform agrarian reform industrial reform Sovereign funds
Unemployment and the weakness of the process of providing good opportunities to create job opportunities through which youth energies are employed in a productive and economic manner	A productive economy that creates job opportunities investing the resources in various governorates to maintain balanced development	Small business development Developing economic feasibility projects
The decline of the Iraqi economy and the occurrence of crises whenever oil prices decline in the world	Various economic resources that achieve economic stability in a currency that has a purchasing power	currency exchange rate alternative energies to energy Developing the tourism sector
Weak adoption of international standards in the work of accounting and weak reliance on integrated accounting systems and programs	Developing the accounting aspects of the economic units	Developing the state budget to balance programs and performance Assisting in exposing files of financial corruption Assisting in the preparation of criteria for evaluating the financial performance Developing and preparing environmental studies in terms of assessing environmental degradation Preparing a system of performance control and officials’ accountability for the services provided by Baghdad Municipality
The weakness of the financial markets and the need to develop the banking sector	Developing the banks and financial markets to be able to support the Iraqi economy and provide a distinguished service	Organizing a financial agency Organizing an economic body Organizing the work of financial rents Ensuring the implementation of Basel decisions

     Baghdad is the largest city in Iraq and one of the largest cities in the Middle East. It is an ancient city, whose establishment dates to the era of Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph, (145AH-762 AD). It was built on the Tigris River (145-149 AH- 710 AD), in a circular shape, which was a new trend in the construction of Islamic cities. Most Islamic cities were either rectangular like Fustat, or square like Cairo, or oval like Sana’a.

     Motivated by love and loyalty to the beloved Baghdad, some ideas together with a design and organizational vision have been presented to enhance the aesthetic view, values, plans and functional standards. These ideas can ultimately contribute to finding effective solutions for getting rid of suffering, and drawing a path that elevates the functional and aesthetic values ​​of the capital, Baghdad, as illustrated below:

1. Making graphite murals (buildings with large and unoccupied facades) in some of the squares of Baghdad, and investing students’ exercises in the subject of project, planning and colors (environmental art).
2. Re-designing the advertising interfaces of some government departments.
3. Designing some of the street furniture, for example, the seats.
4. Re-designing the units of the traffic policeman cabins available in the main squares and intersections.
5. Designing resting units in some parks by employing local or recyclable materials.
6. Redesigning the external spaces of some of the state departments, gardens, or adjacent corridors.
7. Installing large screens in the important sites of the capital.
8. Producing awareness works that contribute to diagnosing negative behavior regarding the use of public facilities.
9. Broadcasting representative scenes on satellite channels by monitoring cases of epidemics and diseases, would raise the individual’s ability to diagnose what is negative and what is positive.
10. Adopting professors’ and students’ capabilities and investing them in producing these ideas using scientifically studied and modern formulas.
11. Cladding some of the most important walls of Baghdad with mosaic murals.
12. Installing copy monuments of the most important ancient Iraqi statues of some Baghdad squares and gardens.
13. Making graffiti inside the capital’s tunnels.
14. Installing contemporary cyber-optical works in some spaces and squares of the capital.
15. Conducting monthly symposiums with the participation of people from different sectors in Abu Nawas Gardens, under the supervision of academic professors to activate the artistic side of the society.
16. Filming performance scenes (theatrical) with cameras and creating a narrative link through a professional montage.
17. Suggesting a therapeutic proposal mediated by art through a theatrical text dealing with social problems and ways to solve them (a clinical project through the strategy of therapeutic solution and rehabilitation mediated by art as an aesthetic means).
18. Creating a proposed scenographic environment where one can find an aesthetic activation of a singing choir as an acoustic background for the scenographic panorama.
19. Establishing a factory for children’s games that takes upon itself the manufacture of games that represent the history of Iraq, such as (Ziggurat Ur – Winged Bull – Lion of Babylon – Malwiya of Samarra – and others). These games are to be distributed free of charge or at nominal prices for kindergartens. The aim of which is to introduce children to the history of Iraq through learning via playing. This is because it has been noticed that the Iraqi children and adults know more about the history of other civilizations, especially the Egyptian civilization, than about the history of Iraq.
20. Taking care of the facades of schools and their internal and external corridors and implementing wall drawings related to ideas inspired by the popular, cultural and social heritage of the city of Baghdad.
21. Forming a team of art education teachers to give lectures on aesthetic and artistic education in schools and universities.
22. Making artistic teams of students, led by active teachers, to visit kindergartens and carry out an artistic event that contributes to the development of the children’s aesthetic taste and consolidation of their perceptions.
23. Choosing elegant musical patterns with specifications in terms of (building dimensions and musical spaces, stairs and transitions, expressive means used, harmonious construction, rhythmic structures, and speed scales). This is because every environment needs special music to be both effective and acceptable at the same time. Accordingly, it is necessary to comprehensively interfere in the choice of Street vendors’ cars, and in every professional wandering between homes to relieve the pressure and noise on people.
24. Activating the role of the anthem in schools through drawings and brochures, building a musical theatre, activating youth centers from the musical side, and allocating family public places where musical works of bands and individual musicians are presented within a pre-prepared curriculum and time and under the supervision of specific staff.
25. Producing television programs concerned with spreading international and Arab musical culture, and programs on Iraqi singing and music, through which the Iraqi singing and music media are hosted.
26. Employing engineering decoration and ancient Islamic architectural elements in modern architecture, such as arches, columns, shoulders, and the use of ancient construction materials, such as wood. In addition, employing the ancient and heritage Baghdadi elements by implementing and introducing windows or balconies of the Baghdadi Shanasheels in modern buildings.
27. Employing calligraphy or the Arabic letter (Horufiyat) in architecture, as well as employing them to make monuments and statues in parks and gardens or at the entrances of governmental and private departments and institutions.
28. Taking care, maintaining, and rehabilitating the various and important cultural edifices that Baghdad City is distinguished by, such as: museums, other historical schools, archaeological sites, the Iraqi National Museum that displays the heritage treasures, such as the civilization of Mesopotamia, the Baghdadi Museum of Folklore, Al-Mustansiriya School, Al-Qishla building, the House of Wisdom, the Abbasid palaces, and others. Such a step helps making all these places attractive touristic places; accordingly, promoting steps need to be adopted through designing special programs, and establishing centers that seek to train individuals to protect their heritage and encourage them to conduct scientific research related to it, to be later included in the various curricula, as it represents the heritage of the present country.

     The governorate is exposed to many sources of pollution, as follows:

First: Emission of toxic gases from electric power generation stations, Al-Doura refinery, and many industrial facilities; a matter which poses a threat to the environment and society. This is because carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are emitted from electric power stations while oil refining stations are emitted; in addition to these two gases, there is also ammonia and some other gases.

Second: The spread of thousands of private electric generators that do not depend on health and environmental conditions, leading ultimately to generating clouds of smoke in the sky of the capital.

Third: What citizens do daily regarding burning waste to dispose of them in large quantities represents an additional burden to air pollution.

Fourth: The continuous cutting of most of the orchards and agricultural lands of the governorate has spread remarkably recently, and this has led to experience the loss of the green belt.

Fifth: Throwing untreated water (waste from sewage and laboratories, or soil and groundwater pollution) into the Tigris River on a permanent basis has led to permanent pollution of the water.

Sixth: The spread of industrial workshops within residential neighborhoods and the noise they cause has caused an additional source of pollution.

Seventh: The phenomenon of dividing a single house into houses with very small areas (up to 05 square meters) has recently spread.

Suggestions and Solutions:

First: Initiating the implementation of a comprehensive census project for the city of Baghdad that includes the population and all life facilities to be able to prepare a strategy and sound plans that help to manage the province environmentally and healthily.

Second: Developing and implementing environmental culture in educational and cultural programs directed through educating citizens and students of schools and universities in cooperation with environmental and health institutions.

Third: Recommending the development of a fuel improvement system, such as a system for removing sulfur from fuel that enters electric power generation stations, placing filter filters on chimneys as a primary solution, and working on developing the reality of biofuel production resulting from various liquid wastes in the city of Baghdad, to be promising alternatives to fossil fuels, meet the national need of energy, and to be environmentally friendly.

Fourth: Immediately start implementing plans to secure potable water and encourage the use of the drip irrigation method.

Fifth: Investing in renewable energy, such as solar energy, wind energy, and others to ensure clean sources.

Sixth: Develop plans and initiate the implementation of household, industrial and medical waste treatment systems for anything that leads to harm mainly from human and animal activities, and benefiting from these wastes by producing biofuel and electric power by establishing waste recycling systems.

Seventh: Encouraging agriculture and surrounding the cities with green belts to be a protective barrier from pollution and dust. Besides, coordinating between the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, Public Traffic, municipalities, and the Municipality of Baghdad for this purpose.

Eighth: Establishing waste recycling plants and converting them into useful and environmentally friendly things, such as using them in energy production and converting spent tires, used paper and broken glass into expensive auxiliary factors that help in the oil industry.

Ninth: Taking the necessary measures to confront dust storms, including reviving orchards, organizing seasonal agriculture, and planting protective belts for cities to prevent dust.

Tenth: Exiting technical workshops and industrial neighborhoods to areas far from cities and population centers.

Eleventh: Improving the sewage treatment organization and using it to wash streets and public places, and to water public agricultural areas.

Twelfth: Supporting the establishment of small factories and plants through loans to project owners after studying the economic feasibility and environmental impact of the project. Besides, developing national industries, such as the manufacture of medicines, soap, vegetable oils, milk, alcohol, sterilizers, detergents, pesticides, and fertilizers.

Thirteenth: Treating the water pollution of the Tigris River with factory waste and setting up electronic measuring devices to follow up the high concentrations of polluting materials in the river, such as: heavy metals, dyes and negative ions that can be thrown as wastes from different industries. At the same time, factory owners are required to treat wastewater from their factories before throwing it into the river.

     The following are additional recommendations worthy of attention:

1. Using devices to collect gases and particles that come out of the chimneys of industrial facilities, and treating them for the purpose of controlling the source of pollution and reaching the safe limit.
2. Treating industrial wastes before throwing them into the river, conducting integrated treatments for the wastewater from industrial facilities, such as Al-Dora power station, the Medical City Hospital complex, and the heavy water treatment plant in Rustamiya, and paying attention to the work of treatment units before throwing the wastewater into Tigris River.
3. Requiring the owners of brick manufacturing factories to provide automatic burning systems to ensure that smoke and other gases do not leak outside.
4. Replacing the black oil used as fuel in the brick manufacturing plants with other clean materials, such as light fuel as diesel fuel.
5. Never using agricultural lands near industrial facilities for the purpose of growing vegetables and other crops.
6. Never using the contaminated river water by discharges from the stations located at Al-Dora, Al-Tib City, and Al-Rustamiyeh (Al-Tuwaitha) for irrigation purposes. This is because the components of such water exceed the permissible limit of the number of the studied chemical characteristics and concentrations of heavy elements, but according to the International Health Organization (WHO) and the environmental determinants of the Iraqi river maintenance system (IQS).
7. Transferring all industrial facilities, factories, laboratories, and various repair shops outside the city limits, and relocating old working wheels and vehicles.

     Since Baghdad governorate lacks a database of the addresses of buildings, important buildings, and historical features, the need to develop a database has emerged, and according to what is stated below:

Suggestions:

• Creating a base map (a state of affairs) by documenting, linking, and updating the maps of all infrastructures in Baghdad City using modern technologies, such as photogrammetry and laser scanning after considering the problems of slums and population expansion outside the basic design of the city.
• Building an integrated database for all buildings, government, and service institutions, Building Information Models (BIM), and classifying them according to their type to facilitate the process of developing, restoring, or rehabilitating them in the future using modern laser technologies.
• Preparing a national project to document the historical and heritage buildings in Baghdad City and creating a digital electronic archive for these important buildings. This will facilitate the establishment of a national electronic museum that can be accessed via the Internet and the transfer of our civilization and history to the world and future generations. Such a project can be implemented using digital photography by drone and internal photography panoramic and laser sensors and linking the data to special servers to upload them to the digital web.
• Using ground radar techniques to explore underground antiquities, especially in newly discovered areas, without resorting to the direct traditional excavation process, which may sometimes damage the site. As is the case with the new archaeological site discovered in Baghdad, which is still unknown, near Al-Adhamiya Corniche.
• Building a database of two spatial types, Spatial Data, which means producing (maps), And Descriptive, Attribute Data, which means labeling the different symptoms of Baghdad City at different scales. Building such a database is important and necessary to shorten the time, and lessen the efforts and costs for decision-makers when making immediate, near or long-term decisions to develop the city of Baghdad.
• Started establishing a spatial infrastructure repository, or what is called Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), a distributed platform for spatial resources that can be accessed through the network, to contribute to the responsible and effective use of geographical and spatial resources for specialized institutions.
• Establishing a center for geographic information systems and remote sensing. This is because such a center aims to build an information base for all facilities and their ground cover and modernize all infrastructures.
• To achieve the foregoing, concerted efforts are needed according to the phased plans to reach the desired goal through the involvement of relevant departments and institutions. Thus, the department can provide the relevant authorities with effective proposals based on scientific and practical experience in this aspect.

Key Merits and Basic Features:

1. Collaboration: Organizations can share spatial and non-spatial data, applications, and tools on spatial data infrastructure. An SDI solution enables agencies to share domain-specific information, resources, and data as aggregated resources.
2. Data Security: Publishers can choose to add data, web services, and applications, and they can also control access to published data.
3. Low cost of Ownership: SDI provides a public, shared repository of useful maps and services created by different organizations. This suggestion reduces the total cost of ownership for the individual participating stakeholders.
4. GIS for Everyone: GIS data and applications available online provide GIS professionals and non-professionals with easy access to spatial content.
5. Mix and Match: The ability to create a new application using data published by one agency and tools provided by another.
6. Lower Capex: SDI solution leverages the sharing of spatial infrastructure, software, and licensing, which ultimately results in lowering the capex and cost of ownership.
7. Improved Accessibility: As the spatial content becomes available on spatial data infrastructure, spatial data has been accessible, as it moves from on-site smartphones to desktop PCs.
8. Enhanced Flexibility: Organizations can change business logic and applications, as the new spatial tools and data are made available by the participating agencies.

     It was found that the vegetative index in 2018 was much higher than that in 2009 (Consider Figure 6) owing to the deteriorating security conditions in 2009 and to the lack of sustainable agricultural applications in the study area compared to 2018. Here, we must continue to improve this green belt and increase the agricultural area for the coming years.

Proposals to Improve the Reality of Green Spaces:

1. Conducting joint work between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (The Million Tree Project), the Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad Governorate, Baghdad Municipality, and the Ministerial Council for Human Development, to work hard to establish a green belt in the eastern side of Baghdad to include the sectors of Al-Sadr City, New Baghdad, the channel and Al-Sha’ab. Besides, giving interest in the green belt of the western side and planning for the other north and south regions during a specific timetable. This proposal further entails reviving the army channel project, which penetrates the side of Al-Rusafa from the north of Baghdad to its south. Such work means adding a green strip that penetrates the body of Baghdad, saving the city from greenhouse gases, softening the atmosphere of the city, bringing joy and refreshment to the souls, reducing the waves of dirt and dust, and providing many job opportunities in various tourist facilities, restaurants, shops, entertainment facilities, and others.
2. Avoiding using primitive methods in palms service, and using instead, an easy-to-use, durable and cheap reciprocating cutting machine by the centers affiliated to the Municipality of Baghdad. This is because the management of palm trees in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, lacks scientific knowledge, and what is currently happening in terms of cutting palm fronds leads them to lose their beauty and weaken it. Scientifically, the frond is a leaf, where the food processing takes; accordingly, the more leaves, the more effective the tree will be in making food. This process increases the disposal of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas.
3. Establishing a national botanical garden (one on Al-Karkh side and the other on Al-Rusafa side) that represents the Iraqi botanical community to be an important landmark in Iraq and the Arab region. It could include the Iraqi Seed Bank and the Center for Plant Taxonomy Studies.
4. Developing the villages surrounding the Baghdad belt, and establishing urban villages that meet environmental sustainability and food security (the village supplies itself with food from plant and animal production).
5. Holding courses and workshops for the employees of the Municipality of Baghdad on the propagation of ornamental plants, such as trees, shrubs and herbs, and the use of tissue culture technology in propagation. Such technology helps to produce important and commonly used horticultural plants, especially plants that are difficult to propagate by traditional methods. It further provides plants in the off-season and in large numbers within a small area.
6. Assigning specialists to lay the foundations for designing and engineering gardens, and provide consultations with regard to the afforestation of cities, streets, central and side islands, and the types of trees suitable for each facility, especially the types of trees that contribute to the absorption of pollutants and the improvement of the environment. Below are tables with the names of trees, shrubs and herbs that can be grown in Baghdad regions.
7. Establishing two factories for the manufacture of organic fertilizers and their accessories in both sides of Baghdad, Al-Karkh and Al-Rusafa, by adopting an organic waste recycling project. This project is a successful solution to the problems of waste accumulation in the city, its conversion from organic waste of no economic value, and of polluting the environment into materials of high nutritional and economic values, where the price per ton ranges between 5-2.0 million Iraqi dinars. It finally reduces, to a large extent, the problem of environmental pollution.
8. Launching the home production project of vermicompost (worm compost), adopted in developed countries. Earthworms convert kitchen waste into organic fertilizers of excellent quality to be used in home gardens. A study can be drawn up by specialists to examine the implementation mechanism. Vermicompost is an organic fertilizer produced from earthworms eating different organic waste, such as house and garden waste, kitchen waste, tree leaves and paper residue. Various enzymes are secreted on these wastes inside their digestive system to be then excreted in the form of fertilizers. The latter represents the richest type of fertilizer in terms of its content of living organisms beneficial to the plant and the high concentration of nutrients. In addition to that, it is quickly soluble in water and easy to be absorbed by the plant. Thus, the production of vermicompost is an environmentally friendly technology in the disposal of wastes and residues and in benefiting from the product in agriculture.

Stopping Some Malpractices in Baghdad City

• Bulldozing the agricultural lands in Baghdad and converting them to non-agricultural purposes.
• Lack of adopting the drip and micro-sprinkler irrigation systems (small sprinklers) in parks and central islands.
• Adopting the direct irrigation technique with sewage water.
• Cultivating Kinocarpus trees of large, deep and branched roots that reach sewage channels and water pipes and destroy them.
• Occasionally planting plants at the various entrances to Baghdad, the central islands and the side gardens.
• Specifying yards and random islands in the streets and alleys of Baghdad for selling random livestock and sheep, resulting ultimately to have waste.
• Never building an iron bridge over the Tigris River that connects Al-Karkh side directly to one of the entrances to the University of Baghdad.
• Never resorting to alternatives to the current means of transportation, which causes pollution and congestion in Baghdad, the capital; cases in point of such alternatives include the river taxi project and Baghdad metro.
• Using cheap lighting placed on bridges, trees and many places in a way that does not reflect the civilized face of the capital, and replacing it with advanced ones.

Proposals in Non-Agricultural Fields

• Orientating towards the use of solar energy in homes, especially in the winter, as it is a clean source of energy.
• Stopping the operations of cutting houses and lands into small areas, and establishing integrated housing complexes in the center and borders of Baghdad.
• Activating previous legislation and developing new legislation to protect the green and environmental cover.
• Changing legislation, laws, and instructions to allow the university to establish companies, obtain investment loans, participate with the private sector, and establish productive projects.
• Stopping the operations of cutting the houses and lands in small areas and go establishment of integrated housing complexes in the center and borders of Baghdad.
• Activating previous legislation and developing new legislation to protect the green and environmental cover.
• Changing legislation, laws, and instructions to allow the university to establish companies, obtain investment loans, participate with the private sector, and establish productive projects.

     The economic crisis and the war against terrorism have greatly affected the implementation of strategic projects in the Republic of Iraq, especially the strategic projects that directly affect people’s lives, including services and infrastructure projects. The problem facing the state in the completion of projects is represented by the lack of financial allocations on the investment side, in addition to the dues payable for what has been implemented by companies and contractors for ongoing projects throughout Iraq. The Ministry of Planning has thus worked to review all ongoing projects and put them within new priorities that consider the financial capabilities available to the country. Further, the Ministry is currently working to establish appropriate controls and mechanisms for the implementation of projects on credit by paving the way for local governments in the governorates to contract with companies with good capabilities to implement new projects in the infrastructure sector, especially after the issuance of Cabinet Resolution No. 347 of 2015; a law which dealt with the types of lagging, stalled and ongoing projects.

Obstacles

     The following is a general overview of the obstacles that hinder implementation, and the reasons for delaying and stopping projects:

1. Inaccurately estimating the costs or annual allocations for some projects, thus, many adjustments are required during the implementation of the plan.
2. Inaccurately preparing statements and plans for projects approved for implementation; a matter which leads to the creation of additional paragraphs in the components of the project, which in turn, increases the project costs.
3. Referring several projects at close times to one company whose first classification is construction. This may weaken the company’s financial position and thus negatively affect the company’s performance in implementing the projects entrusted to it as planned.
4. Lacking the clarity of roles between the various ministries regarding the issuance of instructions on the implementation of contracts, and their abundance. This confuses the employees of the contracting parties while performing their work.
5. Insisting on using the estimated cost as a basis for contract analysis and awarding rather than using quantifiable qualification criteria.
6. Discovering many forgery cases in the documents submitted by the tenderers; a matter which delays the tender referral procedures.
7. Lacking good training programs.
8. Lacking a clear control mechanism that is applied periodically to help the contracting parties correct the course before an error occurs.
9. Having staff members with poor technical capabilities and practical experience in the field of implementing and following up projects in the governorates negatively affects the process of implementing projects.
10. Lacking conformity in most of the contracts that cover all the requirements of the project, starting from the implementation of engineering works to importing and supplying goods and equipment according to Iraqi and international specifications.
11. Lacking clear instructions regarding the selection and employment of consultants, whether individuals or companies.
12. Not resorting to the private sector to make engineering designs for projects.
13. Lacking sufficient technical expertise in the implementation of projects in many companies, causes a delay in the implementation of projects, exposing the beneficiary to a loss due to the high prices of the materials and wages. This further negatively increases the cost of the projects and the failure to complete projects in their specified times.
14. Lacking a mechanism for evaluating the contractor’s performance upon project completion.
15. Having a limited availability of machinery, equipment and machines in the country, and a limited announcement of tenders within a specific period leads to competition over these mechanisms and increases the rental prices and the inability to provide their required number.
16. Delaying in resolving disputes between the contractor and the employer.
17. Inadequately suiting the organizational structures in the governorates with respect to managing the projects implemented by them within the regional development program despite the increase in the amounts allocated to the fore mentioned program.
18. Having no schedules and prior plans for the procurement process according to the modern methods of public procurement administration.

Solutions and proposals

1. Adopting full accuracy when preparing designs, specifications, and priced bills of quantities, and avoiding significant changes in the quantity and quality of works or designs during the contracting period.
2. Setting clear and non-disputable instructions and defining the control departments through which transactions related to the referral of government tenders and contracts related to investment projects go through.
3. Finding a solution to the problem of the exchange rate difference approved by the state’s general budget with the exchange rate of the currency of payment for foreign companies executing projects.
4. Establishing a mechanism for implementing research projects, and studying the proposals received in this regard with ministries and agencies not associated with them, as well as with the governorates.
5. Setting controls and mechanisms for coordination between the ministries and the competent departments for the speedy implementation of the project, starting from the allocation of the plot of land and ending with the provision of financial allocation to the direct implementation of the project.
6. Adopting the principle of similar business, technical and practical experience, and not relying on the company’s capital only, as this procedure gives some companies of high liquidity advanced ratings.
7. Approaching the Commercial Bank of Iraq to agree on not claiming the full amount of the credit when opening a documentary credit.
8. Increasing the number of construction laboratories by establishing a laboratory in each governorate to carry out the examination process in proportion to the increase in projects.
9. Activating the role of technical oversight during the implementation of projects in the governorates through determining specialized committees in which the sectoral ministry has a role.
10. Not referring more than two or three projects to one company to ensure speedy implementation and good quality.
11. Reconsidering the instructions for implementing the general budget related to the method of implementing projects and implementation using the ready-made project method (key by hand).
12. Adopting the objective bases by the governmental and private banks when determining the facilities provided to contractors, in a manner that guarantees the right of the executing authority in the event of a contractor’s failure to implement its contractual obligations, as well as providing sufficient cash liquidity to support a good and efficient contractor in completing the contracting works assigned to him.
13. Laying modern foundations in which international controls and standards are required, including obtaining an international quality certificate, as well as providing the necessary mechanisms and equipment for the implementation of works commensurate with their quality, preparation, and extent of modernity.
14. Not subjecting the investment projects to the specified exchange rate of 1/12 of the actual expenditures from the previous year or increasing them to more than the mentioned percentage.
15. Acquiring land and removing encroachments before announcing the project.
16. Establishing construction laboratories (governmental or private) with international standards subject to the controls of the ISO system.