(Much of the funding goes to U.N. agencies) (630) By Kathryn McConnell Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The United States so far has spent nearly $600 million on humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts for Iraq, says U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew Natsios. More than $500 million of that amount has gone to United Nations agencies -- such as the World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO) and U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) -- for emergency relief, he added. Speaking to reporters April 21 at the State Department's Foreign Press Center, Natsios said internationally recognized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) so far have received approximately $25 million in USAID funding for work in Iraq. Natsios said dredging of the Iraqi harbor at Umm Qasr is expected to be completed by around May 1, allowing larger ships with food aid and other supplies to dock. A large ship with U.S. food aid is expected to dock in Al 'Aqabah, Jordan, in the next few days and the food will be trucked to the Jordan-Iraq border, he said. A top reconstruction priority in Iraq is repairing the county's electrical power plants so water and sanitation can be restored, as well as street lighting to help reduce looting, Natsios said. The poor water situation in Iraq is not the result of the war, Natsios said. He said that for more than 15 years, Iraq's Baath party has failed to properly maintain water plants, causing an increase in child death rates in some parts of the country. Iraq's child mortality rate is now higher than India's, he said. Natsios said the $2,500 million in additional U.S. spending in the current fiscal year for aid to Iraq is entirely a gift of the people of the United States and is not connected to the estimated $13,000 million in Saddam Hussein regime assets frozen in a U.N. trust fund. Most people in the United States understand that once an effort has been made to remove a "repressive regime" from a country, there must be an investment to rehabilitate the country and ensure the regime does not return, he said. Other donors have pledged $1,300 million in assistance, all of which is being coordinated by the United Nations, Natsios said. Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom already have contributed $713 million in funds or supplies, according to an April 18 USAID fact sheet. The World Bank at its spring meetings April 12-13 agreed to soon send assessment teams to Iraq to determine the country's needs in each of several sectors such as water, sanitation, health and education, Natsios noted. USAID expects its involvement in rebuilding Iraq to last only 1-2 years as compared to an expected 10-20 years in Afghanistan. Iraq, he noted, was a developed country and at one time had a large middle class. One of the first things USAID will do in Iraq will be to distinguish, with the help of people at the village and neighborhood levels, between "competent technocrats" -- doctors, lawyers and engineers -- who may have been forced to join the Baath party in order to keep their jobs, and party members who committed atrocities. Good technical people will be essential to the rebuilding efforts, he said. During questioning, Natsios said he expects USAID's major contractors will award many subcontracts to regional firms. USAID's efforts in Iraq will not diminish its work in Sudan or other African nations, he added. But, he said, before reconstruction in Sudan can begin, the people of that country must reach a peace settlement.