Souk Quadessia is a cookie-cutter shopping center design that was used throughout Baghdad. Some six shopping centers have an identical design: about 250,000 square feet (25,000 square meters) of shopping center area over 5 floors (including the basement).

Here's another angle. The damage was caused by looting & burning.

Here's another angle. The damage again was caused by looting and burning.

The Ministry of Trade, which owns all the shopping centers in Baghdad, wants the entire structure removed. The project is expected to take over two months. It began today with a small crew (15 workers), who started building a guard house and foreman's office and bathroom. These rooms, built from scratch, will be complete within seven days.

Work began today on construction of the guard shacks, bathroom and foreman's office at Souk Moustanzeria.

Damage at the shopping center is extensive.

Exterior, Souk Mustanzeria. Three to four-story structure, plus full basement, probably 140,000 square feet (14,000 square meters).

Interior shot. Fire damage caused roof collapse in a few areas. The building was looted and burned after the war.

Another view.

Work began today at the Zafrania Business Institute. The entire business institute campus, which has been mostly destroyed by bomb damages and looting, used to hold classes in facilities for over 2,000 students.

As part of the project, several large buildings will be demolished and other areas will be cleared and cleaned in preparation for re-use.

The Iraqi army had a large munitions dump near the Zafrania Business Institute campus. After the war ended, depending on whose version of the story you believe, either 3 "resistance" fighters fired some RPGs into the dump or a Coalition forces soldier had a accident at the dump. A total of 40 people in the surrounding communities were killed by the explosions, which rained a lot of munitions throughout the area. One or more US soldiers were also killed. The munitions dump took a few months to clean up, and up to November, still hadn't been cleared completely.

On the ground in the area nearby the school grounds were a variety of UXO (unexploded ordinance), including cluster bomblets, land mines, mortar rounds, artillery shells, etc.

Explosions in the neighboring ammo dump were so powerful most of the buildings sustained extensive structural damage.

Looters destroyed the buildings after the bombs.

Exterior view, Zafrania Business Institute, front.

Auditorium classrooms were looted for seats, tiles, electrical components, etc. About 20 squatter families live in different areas of the campus.

An overview of the campus from the roof of one of the buildings. Many of the buildings will be demolished to the ground.

Work was completed yesterday at the Zafrania Technical Institute, ahead of schedule.

Under the project, two buildings were completely demolished and two buildings were partially demolished, clearing the land for re-use and rebuilding. Bricks from the computer center and the library were saved for re-use on the college campus, and scrap metal was placed in the care of the college for resale.

Zafrania Technical Institute Computer Laboratory (looted & burned)

Zafrania cafeteria (burned)

(cafeteria - after clearing)

Zafrania Technical Institute Library, interior

Zafrania Technical Institute Library, #2, interior

Zafrania Technical Institute Metalworking Shop, interior

Zafrania Technical Institute Metalworking Shop, exterior

Zafrania Technical Institute, Computer Center

Zafrania Technical Institute Cafeteria, exterior

Work began today for the Ministry of Higher Education at the Zafrania Technical Institute, one of the five colleges in the Zafrania higher education system. The college educates some 25,000 students annually and awards two year associate's style degrees in many fields, from accounting to teaching and to electrician work.

Two buildings will be demolished (a computer center and a metal shop) and two buildings will be partially demolished (a library which burned and part of a large cafeteria facility which burned).

As most of these buildings are rather small (500 sq. meters or less), the project will employ roughly 50 workers for about a month.

Other projects will begin at the other colleges in Zafrania when more JumpStart foremen complete their on-the-job training programs.

Clearing and cleaning work began today under the supervision of Engineer Mohammed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Planning.

A crew of twenty workers started on the 11th floor of the main building and will begin working their way down through the structure.

The Ministry of Planning complex consists of five buildings with an area of approximately 800,000 square feet, not including the parking structures and other grounds, which will be cleared as well. At least three of the buildings will be cleared and cleaned, while two buildings (both five stories) will be demolished.

The project is expected to employ roughly 100 workers for two months.

Damage to the building was done through looting and burning. Some gunfire and large caliber ammunition damage to the building side and roof, as well.

Two attached buildings form the Ministry of Planning Headquarters complex. The forward building is 6 stories, the back building is 11 stories. Both have an area of about 30,000 square meters (300,000 square feet). Other buildings in this complex also need work and demolition; over 50,000 square meters (500,000 square feet) needs to be cleaned and cleared in total.

Work began today for the clearing of the shopping center Swakl Hora (Duty Free Market), north of the Zayuna neighborhood in Baghdad.

The work will employ 60 workers for one month. Similar to the Souk Shaab project, the cleaning and clearing work is relatively simple, and there are few structural things which need to be done at this shopping center. Windows and doors on the north side of the complex, which currently overlook the American military base there, will be blocked off to ease safety concerns.

Work began today at Souk Shaab with the construction of a guard house, bathroom, and foreman's room. This shopping center is in a relatively good shape, with relatively small structure damages, although the looting and burning throughout the complex is very extensive.

The project is expected to employ approximately 60 workers for one month. The most challenging parts of the project is the basement, which is flooded and filled with destroyed refrigeration units, shelving, etc., and the east entrance of the building, where fire in the basement has melted the steel floor supports, requiring structural repairs.

JumpStart International began clearing and cleaning the Ministry of Higher Education, an 11-story building (12 including the full basement). The building is the exact same size and appearance as the adjacent Ministry of Education Building. Both are located in downtown Baghdad.

The project will extend our work at this site for another month. The same crew of 100 workers, who were working at the Ministry of Education site will continue on this project.