By John Lee.

Sulaymaniya’s general directorate of investment has said that a local company called ‘Mario‘ is building an automobile factory on a 22 hectare (90 donum) site.

The company will initially import parts from China and assemble them at the new plant; at a later stage the factory will also make the parts itself, according to a report from AKnews.

The land has been allocated in an industrial area near Arabt, 27km south of Sulaymaniya, and there is the option to expand the site depending on requirements.

(Source: AKnews)

KRG’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has signed a contract to build a dam in the Qaradakh parish of Sulaimaniya, reports AKnews.

The Chami Smora project will cost 6.96 billion IQD (approx. $5.9 million), and the companies Birkar and Zhina Gharib have undertaken to complete it within 820 days.

The dam will be 20 meters high and will hold two million cubic meters of water from a brook from Diwana River.

Akram Ahmed, general director of dams in Kurdistan, said the project is a strategic one intended to alleviate the drought the area has been suffering from in the recent years.

(Source: AKnews)

A 3,000 acre industrial town is to be built in the Arbat district of Sulaymaniyah Governorate, according to a report from AKnews.

Sulaymaniyah Investment Commission met with a number of private companies this week to discuss the master plan for “The Industrial Town of Arbat District”, which will involve an initial investment of $3 billion USD (3,500 billion IQD).

Yasin Mahmoud, spokesman for Kurdistan Investors Union, told AKnews the construction of almost 450 factories of various sizes will begin this year because all formal bureaucratic boxes have been ticked.

Mahmoud said that Iran is especially interested in the project because the EU and U.S. are imposing economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. It hopes the project is launched soon so that it can rescue some of its factories by relocating them to Arbat district, explains Mahmoud.

“It will become a very important project for Sulaymaniyah because it will change the city from a tourist destination to an industrial hub,” he added.

Farman Gharib, Sulaymaniyah investment director told AKnews that after the master plan for the project is approved, the plan will be opened to competing companies to bid for spaces.

(Source: AKnews)

Food stocks in the governorate of Sulaimaniya are now less than two weeks according to  Sirwan Mohammed, the head of Sulaimaniya Chamber of Commerce.

He told AKnews that since last year his office has been demanding the government allocate land plots to the Chamber so that it can construct new storage units.

He added that last year the Chamber took over 132 stores but “they are not enough even for three businessmen.”

More than 1,500 businessmen have demanded the Chamber provide them with plots of land to build food stores.

Mohammed said since 1991 both the number of Kurdish businessmen and their capital has increased.

“Those businessmen who could only trade one container now can trade 100 containers,” he said.

Khasraw Kamal, Sulaimaniya mayor, told AKnews: “This case is not related to us at all. They can follow up the issue with the Ministry of Trade. Our work is to provide land for the industrial sector not commercial.”

(Source: AKnews)

Iraq’s second largest museum in Sulaimaniya is recovering stolen artifacts by paying smugglers to return the treasures, as CNN reports:

(Source: CNN)

Once the farms around the city of Sulaymaniyah provided all of the fruit and vegetables locals needed. Now climate change, pollution and illegal dumping in local waterways are forcing farmers out.

“We can no longer grow vegetables here, that time has come to an end,” lamented farmer Mohammed Aziz. “The water is so dirty that we don’t even dare get near it,” the 55-year-old said, pointing toward the Tanjero River, once a chief source of water for farming here.

Aziz used to grow vegetables and other crops but since major amounts of sewage began being discharged into this small river, he and his fellow farmers can no longer benefit from what they describe as once fertile land. The waters of the Tanjero River, which runs southwest of the city of Sulaymaniyah and flow into the Darbandikhan Lake, are now unsuitable for agricultural use.

“In the past, the water was not clean either,” Aziz admits. “But it was good enough and we used it. At that time, not all sewage went into the river. But now all of the sewage goes into the river and the river has become so polluted that farmers are being forced to leave their land and abandon agriculture.”

This has been confirmed by Nature Iraq, an environmental action group with links to United Nations eco-projects, that has initiated a community awareness project, called the Iraq Upper Tigris Waterkeeper Project. Nature Iraq has tested the waters of Tanjero and Darbandikhan Lake (pictured).

Two hydro-electric plants in Sulaimaniya province of Iraqi Kurdistan are being renovated at a cost of $40 million [48 billion Iraqi dinars], according to a report from AKnews.

Sirwan Mohammed Mahmoud, the media and relations director at Sulaimaniya electricity office, told the agency that the budget to renovate Darbanikhan (pictured) and Dokan dams comes from a share of the $500 million international loan that was allocated to the Iraqi government; Kurdistan was assigned $85 million of that loan.

Othman Abdul-Rahman, the director for Dokan plant, said at a recent press conference that the protection and control systems at Dokan were initially installed in 1987, and will be replaced with a digital system. Maintaining and finding replacement parts for the old system had become increasingly difficult.

An Italian company is implementing the changes for both plants, and word is expected to be completed within one year.

Darbandikhan plant was constructed in 1961.

(Source: AKnews)

Hundreds of protesters inspired by unrest around the Arab world took to the streets of the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya on Sunday and at least 48 people were injured, according to Reuters. Associated Press reports at least one person killed overnight.

A source told Iraq Business News that a massive demonstration is planned for Baghdad on Friday, to protest the lack of jobs, and shortages of electricity, water and food.

A police official in Sulaimaniya said security forces fired in the air when demonstrators chanting against corruption tried to approach the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, where clashes on Thursday killed two people and wounded dozens.

“Hospitals in Sulaimaniya received 48 wounded people including 19 police and security forces,” said a health official who asked not to be named. “There are 11 people wounded by gunshots.”

Gunmen raided and set fire to a television station in the city, shutting down broadcasts of the protests, station and government officials said.

The protesters are seeking better public services, the ouster of local officials and other demands. Similar rallies took place in Falluja and other locations.

In Baghdad, the cabinet decided to have ministers visit demonstrators to soothe anger over corruption, shortages of food and electricity and other issues behind a series of protests that have triggered skirmishes with security forces.

Unlike their regional counterparts, Iraqi protesters generally have not been calling for the removal of their elected government, installed just two months ago after months of tense negotiations between political factions. Dictator Saddam Hussein was swept away by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The raid on NRT satellite channel in Sulaimaniya was carried out by 50 masked gunmen wearing security force uniforms who sprayed the station with gunfire, smashed equipment, wounded a guard and lit fires, Twana Othman, the station’s manager, said.

NRT had aired coverage of violent protests in Sulaimaniya last week.

Bahrouz Mohammed, the local governor, condemned the attack and promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Those saboteurs who attacked the TV station are trying undermine stability in Sulaimaniya,” he said in a statement.

In the western city of Falluja, about 300 protesters demanded the firing of the governor and provincial council members in Anbar province. Dozens of people rallied for jobs in the southern province of Nassiriya, Abdul Hadi Mohan, deputy head of the provincial council, said.

The cabinet decision to reach out to protesters underscored politicians’ concerns over growing unrest.

(Source: Reuters, Associated Press)