During a recent visit to Karbala, Iraq's Minister for Planning and Development Cooperation, Ali Yusuf al-Shukri, visited several of the religious authority’s projects. Al-Shukri was there to help launch construction of the brand new 52,000 square foot Al Kafeel garage building. Owned by the religious shrines, it will eventually house a petrol station and mechanic’s workshop for ordinary cars and heavy machinery as well as parking and other facilities; it will be built at the cost of about US$62 million.
According to the Ministry of Planning’s website, their boss also toured a new US$5 million plant for the production of fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural chemicals, which would be the first such plant in Iraq when it’s completed at the end of this year. Al-Shukri also visited a farm breeding a rare species of sheep as well as farmlands where ostrich, turkey, chicken and fish are being raised for local consumption.
Elsewhere the religious committees are supervising smaller projects, which include dairy production and the production of animal feed.
And although one of the senior managers involved was quoted as saying that they were on a mission to make Karbala the religious and commercial capital of Iraq, not everybody is happy with what’s happened here over the past few years.
Just 15 kilometres away from the shrines, a handful of independent farmers are fighting for their livelihoods. “The farming projects managed by the shrines depend on modern technology and when they’re ready, they will flood the markets with their agricultural products,” complained one of them who only wanted to be known as Abu Layth. “Small farms can’t afford to buy that kind of equipment. So the big farming projects keep making bigger projects and expanding.”
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