KDP confirms government rotation - Kurdish Globe

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The Kurdish Globe No. 335, Saturday, January 07, 2012 6 Gridlock worsens in Suleimaniya No relief on the horizon as traffic on Suleimaniya’s city streets comes to a screeching halt on most days. Despite the bad conditions of Suleimaniya city streets and the fact that most of the streets in the city are very narrow, the number of vehi hicles flowing into the city is increasing rapidly on a daily basis. The result is a huge traffic problem in Suleimaniya both on the main streets and in city neighborhoods. The main rush hours in the city include 08:00 to 09:00 a.m., when business starts and offices open; the two early afternoon hours are between 01:00 p.m. till 03:00 p.m. when most of the government offices close, and the early eveni ning hours before sunset when a majority of people are heading home. During these hours the city streets are almost completely blocked. Officer Bakhtiyar Mohi hammed, a traffic police officer at the Media Depi partment of Suleimaniya Traffic Police Directorate, stated in an interview with The Kurdish Globe that the traffic situation in the city is terrible and worsei ening daily. “The streets’ infrastructure should be improved in parallel with the developments of the traffic sector,” Mohammi med told the Globe. “And “People’s lives and safety” threatened by lack of traffic control A traffic police officer fills out an accident form for a traffic accident in Erbil. File photo. they should meet the needs and expectations of the public.” Major traffic problems in Suleimaniya occur in areas such as Azadi Park Street, Kareza Wshk Street, Zargata Highway, some streets in Bakhtiyari Quarter and others. Acci cording to Mohammed, besides the huge traffic in these areas, in some of the intersections in those streets there are no traffi fic lights and there is lack of sufficient traffic police to control the situation, something that has “made the problem more serious and results in traffic accidi dents and threatens peopi ple’s lives and safety.” Officer Mohammed also argues that when law is in place there will be no need for traffic police to control everywhere, “for instance the right hand law should work automatically withoi out an officer enforcing it. Besides, it is impossi sible to put an officer in every intersection of the city.” Right side law frees drivers not to stop at cross roads; they just pass at the right side. Despite the fact that there are currently six overpassei es and four underpasses on the main streets in Suli leimaniya, the traffic is still a major issue in the city and on 60 Meter Ring Road, which is outside the city and is supposed to be a high speed road. Someti times traffic on this street is not much different than other streets downtown. Shamal Ali, a taxi driver, says that sometimes he decides to use 60 Meter Ring Road to escape the city center’s traffic, but he realized this is no longer a useful alternative. While overpasses and underpasses constructed in the city have helped reduce the traffic in Suleimi maniya, they have always faced problems; the Khasri raw Khal Overpass facing the Rand Gallery is curri rently under construction. Recently, the Suleimaniyi ya Municipality decided to construct more overpasses and underpasses, but acci cording to Sheikh Azad Naqshbandi, Chair of the Traffic Committee at the Suleimaniya Municipality. He said that these projects are currently on hold due to lack of sufficient funds. Figures at the Directorai ate General of Traffic Police reveal that there are currently 1.43 million vehicles in Kurdistan Regi gion, 250,000 of which are inside the center of Suleimaniya. Every day some 1,000 cars are impi ported into the region, 140 of which are brought into Suleimaniya. Meanwhile, the region’s authorities have granted one million driver’s lici censes all throughout Kurdistan Region.Halkawt Abdulla, a traffic and road expert, complains about having two different systi tems for licensing in Suli leimaniya and Erbil, and he also thinks that there are many shortcomings in the system. “In my opini ion, 70% of license holdei ers know how to drive but are ignorant how to deal with other drivers, as they do not abide by the traffic laws, they drive fast and they do not respect road signs,” stated Abdulla in a Globe interview. But statistics show that the number of traffic-acci cident victims in 2011 was lower than that of 2010. In 2011, a total of 758 people died and 8,817 were inji jured in traffic accidents, while in 2010 total deaths were 817 and injuries were 12,000. Speaking of the negati tive aspects of traffic and increased number of vehicles in Kurdistan, Abdulla mentioned that the increased traffic and number of cars is having a serious impact on the environment.“In many countries, the exhausts of vehicles are equipped with a filter that filters the poisonous and harmful elements,” explained Abdi dulla. “However, majority of vehicles imported into Kurdistan are not equipped with this filter.” Director Nassir Hassan tells about his projects GLOBE PHOTO/ Safin Hamed GLOBE PHOTO/ Safin Hamed Nassir Hassan, Kurdish filmmaker In an interview with The Kurdish Globe, Nassir Hassan, a famous Kurdi ish filmmaker and the formi mer General Directorate of Cinema at the Ministry of Culture and Youth, disci cussed closing the directi torate in 2012 and his work in the future. Globe: What are reasons behind closing the Directi torate of Cinema? Nassir: Closing the Diri rectorate of Cinema makes me anxious because cinei ema works are still in the early stages.We have many successful productions that participated in internationai al festivals. I hope the Mini istry will have a successful plan for cinema production and moviemakers. Globe: Why has this diri rectorate lasted only two years? Was it careless in its duties or were there other reasons? Nassir: I think we did our best. There are many finished works to be menti tioned; for instance, we produced 75 short films and 15 feature films. And we conducted many film festivals all over Kurdistan cities. Globe: Why is there nopi proper cinema hall in Erbi bil? Did you request the government to build a new hall? Nassir: Actually we suggi gested building a cinema hall two year ago, and then the KRG contacted compi panies. But still, there is no hall in Erbil. Globe: Are you going to take any position after closing this directorate? Nassir: From now on, I will dedicate my time with art and never take any admi ministrative position. Globe: What art? What is your new production? Nassir: I am preparing to direct Kirkuk 4,The Biogri raphy of Ali Mardan and Abdul-Kareem Qasim’s Biography. Globe:You mentioned the drama Kirkuk 4, when will it be finished and screened? Nassir: The drama Kirkuk 4 consists of four parts within 30 series. It talks about the history of Kirkuk from 1979 to 2003, showi ing all political and social changes in the city. I have finished the artwork of the first part. If the first part is successful, I will continue the rest. The Ministry deci cides on which channel to broadcast the film. Globe: In your other artwi works you referred to Abdi dul-Kareem Qasim’s Biogri raphy; what it is about? Nassir: This drama is about Abdul-Kareem Qasi sim’s life and his political work. And also it has some scenes of Erbil, Suleimaniyi ya and Kirkuk. Arabic is the language of the movie. Globe: A cinema festival under the name of Stop Violence Against Females was held in Erbil. After it was over, some said sevei eral of the films might win awards, but they didn’t. What is your precise commi ment? Nassir: This festival was like a workshop. The aim of this festival was to convey messages through the presi sented films. Awards were not a measurement for the success of the works. The contributors need to think of improving their future works instead of busying themselves with winning awards.
The Kurdish Globe No. 335, Saturday, January 07, 2012 7 Government to close unlicensed pharmacies and clinics Some fear more pressure on hospitals As part of efforts to revamp Kurdistan’s health system, more than 4,000 illegal pharmacies and unlicensed neighborhood clinics will be closed down, said Khalis Qadir, spokesman for Kurdistan’s Ministry of Health. “Our teams are working now to close down the illi legal pharmacies,” said Qadi dir. “The pharmacies have to work according to the law from now on.” He said only pharmacists should run pharmacies and that it is up to the Syndicate of Pharmacists to ensure pharmi macies adhere to the new guidelines. Qadir said the sale of drugs by persons other than trained pharmacists will be “harmful” as many individui uals have been affected by improper prescriptions and use of drugs. The government has notifi fied pharmaceutical compi panies and wholesalers not to sell drugs to unlicensed neighborhood pharmacies and clinics. Only the graduai ates of pharmacy schools and assistant pharmacists will be allowed to set up pharmacies and they will only dispense medicine to patients based on prescripti tions from doctors. Some citizens are unhappi py with the government’s decision. Zardasht Mirza believes neighborhood clinics and pharmacies are necessary because “without these clinics, we will need to go to doctors and there will be a lot more pressure on hospi pitals.” Neighborhood clinics and pharmacies in Kurdistan are generally run by medici cal staff such as physicians’ assistants, not licensed physi sicians or pharmacists. Barzan Abu Zed Ali, diri rector of East Emergency Hospital in Erbil, says the closure of neighborhood pharmacies and clinics will not increase the burden on emergency rooms at hospiti tals. The head of the Syndici cate of Health Professionai als, Zana Khalid, said his organization will oppose any government decision to close down neighborhood clinics and pharmacies opei erated by health professionai als. He said according to the ministry’s instructions, health professionals have the right to have private health-related businesses after completing their hours at government hospitals. It is mandatory for health professionals in Kurdistan have to serve in government health institutions but they can have their own busini nesses in their free time. By Salih Waladbagi A pharmacist arranges medicine in his pharmacy in Erbil. File photo. GLOBE PHOTO/ Safin Hamed Rising generator fees compound electricity problems Reduced national power supply increased costs Complaints about increasing monthly back-up generator fees have increased in Kurdistan Region in the first month of 2012. Due to the reduced national power supply since late Deci cember 2011, the owners of the back-up generators supplying power when grid power is off have raised their fees significantly and have set a record-breaking rate of 10,750 Iraqi dinars (approximately $9) per ampi pere per month. The news was shocking to residents of Erbil and they raised their voice of protest and the Committee on the Follow Up of Private Genei erators was informed about the situation. The committee organized a joint press conference with authorities from the Kurdistan Regional Govei ernment’s Ministry of Electi tricity to give some clarifici cation to an angry public. Though it did not change the rate, it explained duri ing the press conference that 2,000 ID of the 10,750 ID was for December 2011 which was not collected befi fore the end of the year. Committee chairman Qari raman Mawlood said the January rates were set to 8,750 ID per amp per month for supplying electricity to households for seven and a half hours per day. Regarding the 2,000 ID charge, Mawlood says this is the fee for the supply of December that compensatei ed the hours during which national electricity supply was cut. “If people were informed about this issue in advance, I believe this misundersi standing and escalation would not have happened,” explained Mawlood in a Globe interview. “I have never paid 43,000 ID for 4 amps of electrici ity,” said a street vendor who was selling vegetables and fruit a few hundred meters from the Erbil Govei ernorate building. “This is not to mention the national electricity charges, house rent, food and clothing for our children.” A woman in black who was buying tomatoes from the vendor said the govei ernment is acting against the poor instead of helping them out. Suleiman Aziz, a journali ist who reports on people’s daily problems, says the public should not pay for the government’s actions and inabilities. “The government was supposed to supply electrici ity to the public, but now as it cannot, it should provide fuel to generator owners to remove the burden from the people and prevent them from paying higher chargei es,” said Aziz. Mawlood, on the other hand, says the government supplies subsidized fuel to generator owners to control the prices and that it has inci creased the amount of fuel since February 2011 and it has had a significant positi tive impact. “We are currently distribui uting fuel twice a month, and the governorate is tryi ing to persuade the Council of Ministers to further inci crease the amount of subsidi dized fuel for generators,” stated Mawlood. This effort by the govei ernment comes at a time when the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources failed to provide Ministry of Electi tricity with sufficient fuel for power production that resulted in reduced national power supply. Mawlood admitted it canni not do anything to reduce the 10,750 ID for January, but he was optimistic that the governorate’s effort is most likely to work and prices would go down in February. However, the problem is not the same everywhere in Erbil, as some neighbi borhoods have better relay stations installed that bear higher loads and do not enci counter problems frequentli ly. Some of those neighbi borhoods get 20 hours of national power per day and the remaining four hours is covered by back-up genei erators, for which they are charged only 500 ID, while some other neighborhoods have exhausted power netwi works and their supply is turned off from time to time to prevent faults, which means they need more back-up power, and they need to pay more. To solve this issue, Yassi sin Siddiq, director of Erbil Power Distribution Directi torate, says that a tender to purchase 73 relay stations has been approved though the governorate, and that the project is being implemi mented. This comes at a time when 103 relay stations in Erbil are faulty. During sessions of the Kurdistan Parliament regi garding the 2011 budget, Parliament decided the revenues of the Ministry of Electricity would be used for the ministry itself to solve electricity problems and develop the electrici ity infrastructure in the Region. Parliament also allocated the largest share in the budget to electrici ity ministry projects of 603 billion ID (approximately $500 million). Despite this, electricity is still an issue in the Region and majority of problems are still unresolved.
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KDP confirms government rotation - Kurdish Globe

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