Once the battle to free western Mosul is won, a different fight will begin: the enormous task of rebuilding Iraq’s second city so that more than 600,000 displaced people can return home.
After years of conflict, up to three-quarters of Mosul’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. Water and electricity plants must be repaired, schools and hospitals rebuilt and streets cleared of rubble and explosives.
Rebuilding a metropolis the size of San Diego will be one of the largest, most complex stabilisation projects since World War Two. The United Nations is leading the rebuild. More than 450 stabilisation projects are already approved or underway across east and west Mosul and the neighbouring Ninewa Plains.
