AMMAN, Sept 28 (AFP) - Iraq's interim planning minister Mehdi Hafez said on Tuesday that an international drive to rebuild his war-shattered country has been discouraging because billions of dollars pledged in October have not been spent.
"The international community pledged at the Madrid conference to give generous donations but what has been accomplished so far did not match our expectations," Hafez told a UN symposium in Jordan on the reconstruction of Iraq.
"New mistakes have been made adding to the ones made by the former regime," Hafez said at the opening session of the conference organised by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, UN-Habitat.
Hafez charged that there was a "lack of transparency" in the way contracts were being handed out by the US-led coalition and complained that Iraq was not getting a share of the deals.
"This outcome has not been encouraging," he said.
Hafez also took a swipe at the United States, saying Washington promised to spend seven billion dollars on Iraq's reconstruction in 2004 but has so far used only around one billion dollars.
He also spoke of "corruption" and "flagrant" mistakes in allocating funds for various contracts.
"How could the security cost of a project reach 60 percent of its total cost," he said.
Iraqi officials have long complained that very little has been spent of the total 33 billion dollars, including the US portion of 18.4 billion dollars, pledged at the October 2003 Madrid donors conference.
The Project and Contracting Office managing US funds for the reconstruction of Iraq said in a document in August that Washington spent just 544 million dollars of 6.38 billion dollars of contracts so far.
Most of the money was spent on law enforcement and security, the document said.
Hafez said hoped donors would make new pledges at a conference to be hosted by Japan in October, insisting however that promises must be kept.
"Donors who have made promises must live up to them and disburse the funds they pledged," he said.
The Amman conference "will spotlight the staggering housing shortfall and dilapidated infrastructure in Iraq" a statement by UN-Habitat said.
Around 100 delegates and experts from Iraq, UN agencies and the World Bank are attending the meetings.