The Bush administration wants to shift a total of 3.46 billion US dollars from Iraq's water, power and other reconstruction projects to bolster security and prepare for Iraq's coming elections due in next January, US media said on Monday.

The administration wants Congressional permission to shift the funds out of the 18.4 billion dollars that Congress approved last year to rebuild Iraq, according to the documents submitted by the Bush administration to the Congress.

The administration would shift 1.804 billion dollars earmarked for water, sewage and electricity projects to boost Iraq's security forces and the rest would go to helping plan the coming elections and strengthen the local governments.

Only some 1 billion dollars have been spent on Iraq's reconstruction projects out of the 18.4 billion dollars approved by the Congress last year.

The Bush administration will also forgive some 95 percent of 4-billion-dollar debt that the Iraqi government owes the United States, the documents said.

The move by the Bush administration to shift funds to bolster Iraq's security is considered a major step to pave way for the coming elections in the country.

More than one year after US President George W. Bush declared the end of the Iraq war, the insurgency in the country has been increasing as more than 1,000 US troops have been killed since theBush administration launched the Iraq war in March last year.

Source: Xinhua