Because of security threats and a seemingly immovable bureaucracy, the federal ministries in Baghdad largely failed to spend billions of dollars of Iraqi oil revenues set aside last year to rebuild things like roads, schools, hospitals and power plants. Although some ministries have improved slightly, what has really caught the eye of Iraqi politicians is the way some local governments have begun bypassing the morass in Baghdad by using hundreds of millions of dollars of the reconstruction money from the government to finance regional projects. The approach has found such favor among some political leaders that Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, arrived here with an all-star cast of senior government officials Sunday to announce that Babil Province, whose capital is Hilla, would be rewarded with $70 million in new money and financing for a major loan program for small businesses and individuals. Participants at a meeting where that announcement was made said they had seen modest effects of Babil's talent for spending money in the form of new schools, road repairs, small electricity projects and the improving commercial vigor of Hilla, where smoke can be seen rising from brick factories and the streets do not have the deserted feel of many districts in Baghdad, 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, north. As if to punctuate those statements, Iraq's finance minister, Bayan Jabr, who also made the trip, then announced that the portion of the capital budget that goes directly to the 18 provinces would increase to nearly $4 billion next year. read more