From the Heart of Kurdistan Region - Kurdish Globe

TheKurdishGlobe No. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 4 TheKurdishGlobe No. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 5PM laid the cornerstone ofDuhok International AirportThe KRG Prime Minister Nerchirvan Barzani pays a visit to Duhok andpresents strategic projects to the provinceOn the first day ofhis visit, The PrimeMinister NechirvanBarzani, with thepresence of manymembers of localbusiness anddiplomaticcommunities, KRGministers and otherofficials, laid thecornerstone ofDuhok InternationalAirport on 24th ofSeptember 2012.The Prime Minister announcedthat Duhok willbe another bridge betweenKurdistan Regionand the outside world,and described the projectas a ‘strategic’ and importantgate. “Airports for aclosed region like Kurdistanare alternatives forseaports” said NechirvanBarzani at the groundbreakingceremony ofDuhok International Airport.He said that the airportwill not only serve Duhokand Kurdistan Regionpeople, but will serveNinawa and probablyborder areas in Syria andTurkey as well. Barzanirevealed that this projectis the stage number oneof a series of strategicprojects in Duhok andpromised that the cornerstoneof a strategic oilrefinery project will belaid in the province in thenear future.Duhok InternationalAirport, which had beendecided on in the FifthCabinet, will be the thirdairport in the KurdistanRegion to which travelerswill have direct accessto the province after it’scompletion in 2015. Theother two airports are inErbil and Slemani, whichalready provide directflights to more than 25destinations in Europe,Asia, and the MiddleEast.Academics and businessmenin Duhok regardthis project a crucial factorin booming tradingand tourism sectors inDuhok and the Region.“The airport will be ashortcut to tourists as wellas the investors who seekinvestment in the area.”said Ubaidallah Dawood,the General Director ofTourism in Duhok province,adding that peoplewill have an easier wayto travel around the worldthrough the airport.The airport buildingfacilities have been designedby the LebaneseDar Al-Handasa Engineeringand ADPI ofFrance. The Turkish Makyolis the constructioncompany which is supervisedby a team fromSouth Korea’s IncheonInternational Airport onbehalf of the KRG.The KRG has allocatedUS 400$ million on a 21square kilometer land inthe west of Duhok city.It’s planned to be completedin two and a halfyears.KRG will renovateLalish TempleOn the same day, thePrime Minister visitedLalish Temple in Shekhandistrict and promisedthat the KRG will renovateLalish Temple, thesacred place of KurdishEzidies minority. “TheKRG sees serving Lalishas a duty.” said NechirvanBarzani in his meetingwith Mir TahseenBag, the Mir of Ezidies,and Spiritual Council ofEzidies, reiterating thattheir demands will certainlybe met.Mir Tehseen Bag, mir ofEzidies showed his andall Ezidies’ appreciationsto the Prime Minister forpaying this visit the Lalishand making this decisionregarding the renovationof Lalish Temple.The KRG will allocateUS $28 million in twophases for renovating thetemple. In the first stageKurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani delivers a speech on the occasion of inaugurating a residentialproject for martyrs' families in Duhok, September 25, 2012.$17m will be allocatedand the renovation processwill be carried by aspecialist company andsupervised by a consultativecommittee. In thesecond stage the KRGwill allocate US $11 millionto begin installingthe basic services in thetemple.Lalish Temple is fewkilometers north of Shekhandistrict, 60 Km northof Mosul. It is the mostsacred place to KurdishEzidies in Kurdistan regionand Iraq. Hundredsof them all around KurdistanRegion and Iraqvisit it during their pilgrimageseason in April.And now it’s consideredas one of the importantreligious sights in TheKurdistan Region towhich even non Ezidieshave regular visits.Important decisionsin ZakhoOn the second day,Nechirvan Barzani paid avisit to Zakho district andheld a meeting with thedistrict officials and inspectedsome underwayprojects. He reiteratedthat giving more authorityto districts and subdistricts paves the wayto present better servicesGLOBE PHOTOand projects.The Prime Minister visitedBarzan InternationalStadium project, 50% ofwhich is completed sofar. The stadium will beable to host internationalmatches after its completionand will obtain theinternational certificatefor this purpose. BarzanStadium is designed accordingto developed andinternational standardsand is now being constructedby some specialistcompanies and willhave seating capacity of22,000.Regarding the renovationprocess of DalalBridge and Zakho citadel,Nechirvan Barzanireiterated that any renovationprocess of the historicalsights should beunder the supervision ofUNISCO. During a visitto Zakho University, ThePrime Minister showedthe KRG’s readiness toprovide the new universitywith the equipmentsthey need and decided toallocate a sum of moneyfor improving the universitycampus.Ground watershould not be usedany moreIn the last stage of hisvisit to Duhok province,The Prime MinisterNechirvan Barzani visitedBardarash district andheld a meeting with officialsand the people ofdistrict, and decided onseveral strategic projectsin the area.Nechirvan Barzani reiteratedin the meeting thatagricultural lands andplains must not be usedfor residential buildings,but the enlarging processof the town should gotowards the hills in theeastern of Bardarash district.Barzani promisedthe people that the governmentwill present betterservices to the area.“This area is an old areaand was one of the oldestsub districts in Iraq”he said.In another part of hisword, The Prime Ministersaid that ground watershould never be used anymore in the area. “Othersources of water shouldbe found” he said.Bardarash district islocated between the tworivers of Xazir in thewest, and Upper Zap inthe east, but is still usingground water for drinkingand agriculture purposes.The Kurdish GlobeShvan GoranDuhokGLOBE PHOTO/Safin HamidMarkets serve asoutward moneytransfer machinesDuring the past decadeKurdistan Region haswitnessed a dramatic economicand social development.Significant increasein the personal incomeand in the trade volume inthe region has led to theincrease of consumption,which is mainly feed byimports.Hogir Mohammed, ayoung local man, wasleaving a supermarketinside Erbil with a largebasket of everyday itemshe just purchased. Checkingthe basket, everythingother than one domesticsoft drink bottle was imported.“I always prefer domesticproducts, but I have noother choice when I can’tfind them,” said Mohammed.In another part of thecity, people were buyinglarger amounts of stuff atanother mall that had putall its products on a bigsale. It was, however, notto close down due to badmarket situation, but ratherto renovate the buildingand add couple morefloors to it.Despite all its shortcomings,Kurdistan Region’sshare in the Iraqi annualbudget has increased tradeactivities in the regionduring the past few years.This has made Kurdistanan important business centerin the whole region.Supermarkets and shoppingmalls play as a balancingmechanism fortaking out all the moneythat pours into this smallregion.In 2003, the number ofsupermarkets would notexceed two or three, not tomention the fact that theidea of shopping malls,hypermarkets and marketchains was not introducedat all.However, nowadays inaddition to the numerousmalls and hypermarkets,there are much larger numberof smaller markets inevery neighborhood of thecity and on all the streets,almost all of which sellimported goods.This shows the route ofall the oil revenues thatcome to Kurdistan. Ratherthan going into developingthe infrastructure andthe economy it goes intothe pockets of the othercountries, and especiallythe neighboring countries,thus making little good tothe region itself.Turkey and Iran jointlyhave a trade volume ofmore than USD 10 billionwith Kurdistan Region,which is almost the sameas the region’s annual budgetshare from Baghdad.Swara Aziz, directorgeneral of planning andfollow-up at the Tradeand Industry Ministry ofKurdistan Regional Government(KRG), says theregion’s economic policyhas been successful ineconomic developmentand market activity buthas failed to keep the balancebetween non-oil exportsand imports in foreigntrade.According to Aziz thefactor behind this inequalityis the inequality betweenthe technology andknowhow used in the foreigncountries compared towhat is used in Kurdistan.This, according to him,makes local industry noncompetitive.Hence importingready-made goodswould have less headacheand cost, something whichmakes domestic productionmore difficult.In 2010 Kurdistan hadimported a value of USD11 billion while, the nonoilexport volume was onlyUSD 90 million. HenceKurds depend 99.2% onimports.Buyers walking through one of the largest hypermarkets in Kurdistan, Erbil, December 6, 2009.New consultancy clinicsto open in ErbilAs per a decision of theKurdistan Regional Governmentnew subsidizedconsultancy health clinicswill be establishedin all the region’s provinces.These clinics will providemedical consultationsand medical checksat a 50% discount comparedto normal marketprices.As part of this project,5 clinics are to be establishedin Erbil.Dr. Rebin Barzinjee,Director of city centerclinics at Erbil’s HealthDirectorate says the newclinics will have variousCity’s police directorateto install 5,000 camerasin the public places in anear futureAbdulkhalaq Tallat,Director of Erbil ProvincePolice announcedthat in cooperation witha French company, theyhave finalized all thespcialized physicianswho will be available 4hours per day for consultations.“We are planning tohave 24 hour emergencyservice,” said Barzinjee.A visit ticket will costIQD 3,000 (approximatelyUSD 2.5). The physicianmay ask for some labtests for patients, 50% ofthe costs of which will besubsidized.It is also argued that theprices are already lowerthan the average marketprices, and hence patientspay even less than 50%.Barzinjee also said thatthe clinics will also doPatients queuing in front of a health center in Erbil.preparation works relatedto the project are completedand they are readyto install the cameras inthe near future.Tallat said that 5000cameras will be installedin all the public placesand marketplaces in orderto protect the lives ofsmall operations. However,large operations arereferred to large hospitals,where the governmentcovers 80% of thecosts.“We are planning tohave similar clinics in thedistricts and sub districtsas well.”Although the governmentwas mainly promotingthe private sectorin developing health services,it is now returningfocus on improvingpublic health services aswell. This is thought topromote competition betweenthe public and privatesector.Erbil to be controlled with security camsThe first group of studentscommenced theircourses on SundaySeptember 23, 2012 inthe Judicial Institute inErbil in the presenceof Kurdistan RegionalGovernment’s (KRG)Minister of JusticeSherwan Haidari, representingPrime MinisterNechirvan Barzani.The group consistedpeople.“The purpose or thecameras is for investigationsand assisting infinding proofs in crimecases,” Tallat told theGlobe. “Additionally, itwould help reduce crimerate.”Judicial Institute started its first termof 42 students, 12% ofwhom are females.Minister Haidari announcedthat the instituteis a strategicinstitution and is complementaryto the otherjudicial institutions.“The Institute wouldbe responsible for preparinga new generationof judges and membersof the public prosecutors,”Minister Haidarisaid. “No one or partyhas been allowed to interferein the admissionand testing processes.”The government hasallocated a plot of landand USD 27 million forthe construction of theinstitute’s building.GLOBE PHOTO/Safin Hamid