BAGHDAD -Col. Joseph Martin, a native of Dearborn Mich., commander, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, shakes the hand of Naeem Abaob, the deputy mayor of Baghdad, after they signed the paperwork ...

BAGHDAD - Col. Joseph Martin, a native of Dearborn, Mich., commander, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, speaks to guests attending the transfer ceremony of the Hurriyah Public Works Sub Station i...

BAGHDAD - Essential services workers of the Hurriyah Public Work Sub Station observe the transfer ceremony of the PWSS in the Kadhamiyah district of northwest Baghdad June 17. The PWSS was officially transferred from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team...

BAGHDAD - Naeem Abaob, the deputy mayor of Baghdad speaks to guests attending the transfer ceremony of the Hurriyah Public Works Sub Station in the Kadhamiyah district of northwest Baghdad June 17. "We understand that the Coalition forces' duty is mi...

BAGHDAD - Sgt. 1st Class John Bissem (left), a native of La Crosse, Wis., and Capt. Nathan Williams, a native of Raleigh, N.C., both of the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 18th Infantry Division, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Mul...

BAGHDAD - The local Iraqi government in northwest Baghdad's Hurriyah neighborhood has increased its ability to provide for its people.

The 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team "Dagger," 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad handed over the Hurriyah Public Works Sub Station to the Government of Iraq in a ceremony on the station's grounds June 17.

The PWSS serves the people of Hurriyah by ridding its streets of sewage and trash.

The land the PWSS was built on was once a trash dump, but after some cleaning and brick work, it was turned into the centerpiece of service in Hurriyah.

The compound is equipped with two garages, four buildings and 18 essential service trucks.

"As we know, there has been a big essential services problem in Hurriyah, but we are trying to fix that problem and trying to provide help with sewage removal," said Naeem Abaob, the deputy mayor of Baghdad. "We understand that the Coalition forces' duty is military action, but they have done a lot of infrastructure and essential services work as well."

The Dagger Brigade worked with Baghdad's Belladiyah, or Department of Public Works, to set up PWSS's throughout northwest Baghdad.

"We have done a lot of cooperation with the Coalition forces, especially the embedded Provisional Reconstruction Team," said Abaob. "This combined effort has given us a great result."

It has been the combined effort of the Dagger Brigade and the Iraqi Security Forces that kept the city safe and allowed for improved essential services.

"In concert with our Iraqi Security partners we will ensure the future remains stable for transitions such as this one," said Col. Joseph Martin, a native of Dearborn, Mich., commander, 2nd HBCT. "I salute the diligence of local leaders in support of continued transition toward full Iraqi control."

The goal of the essential services improvement project is to enable the Belladiyah with the tools it needs to sustain services on their own.

"[The transfer ceremony] just shows one more step where we've been able to hand over things to the local government and for them to assume more responsibility, which really is what we've been trying to do since the conflict began," said Capt. Nathan Williams, a native of Raleigh, N.C., commander, Company A, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd HBCT. "We are at the final stages of this, so I think it will be very successful. I'm glad to see that it is finished and has been turned over."