Mosul's basic infrastructure will cost more than dlrs 1 billion to repair after the US-backed Iraqi offensive to retake the city from Daesh, a senior UN official has said.
Iraqi commanders have predicted final victory in Mosul this week after a grinding eight-month assault on the once two-million-strong city which has pushed Daesh into an area no more than 300 metres (yards) by 500 metres beside the Tigris, The Daily Mail reported.
Advances remain hard-won and the assault has destroyed at least six districts out of 44 in western Mosul.
The fighting, involving Daesh bombs as well as air strikes and artillery by the Iraqi military and an international coalition backing it, has also displaced about half its pre-war population.
An initial assessment showed that "stabilization", which includes repairing water, sewage and electricity infrastructure and reopening schools and hospitals, would cost more than twice initial estimates, Lise Grande, the United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said.
The extent of damage was far greater than expected and much worse in the western half of the city than in the east, which was retaken from Daesh six months ago, she said.
"In western Mosul what we're seeing is the worst damage of the entire conflict. In those neighborhoods where the fighting has been the fiercest, we're looking at levels of damage incomparable to anything else that has happened in Iraq so far."
Stabilization in eastern Mosul could be done in two months but it would take more than a year in the west, Grande said, and long-term reconstruction would cost many billions of dollars. 

Source: MENA