The Iraqi government is seeking an extra $3.4 billion from foreign donors to finance the reconstruction of its water and electricity infrastructure, the planning minister said yesterday.

Mehdi Hafedh said Iraq needed the extra cash for water and power because the United States was reallocating about $3.4 billion of $18.4 billion it has set aside for Iraq’s reconstruction towards security and job creation projects.

“We are trying to get this from other donors,” Hafedh told Reuters in an interview. Iraq will seek to plug the gap at a meeting of international donors scheduled for October in Tokyo, he added. “We will explain the situation to them. This will be high on the agenda because it’s very important for us,” he said.

The US embassy in Iraq proposed spending about $1.8 billion now earmarked for reconstruction on expanding the Iraqi police, border patrol and national guard and increasing the number of border posts, the US official said.

While disappointed that his own ministry’s projects miss out, Hafedh said he understood the need for reallocation. “In our opinion this is important... Unless we have full security in the country it is difficult to imagine any quick rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.”

US-led forces are trying to put down an insurgency across north and central Iraq. The US-backed Iraqi interim government has also faced rebellions in the south. Crime is rife.

But building up the water and electricity infrastructure remains crucial to Iraq’s future stability. Power supply is at best patchy, even in the capital, where Iraqis still complain supply is worse than it was under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Hafedh said plans were still being drawn up for a series of labour intensive projects, and he said the interim government was encouraging spending in the construction sector.