The latest business news from Karbala, Iraq – oil, power, rail, housing projects & more – brought to you by Iraq Business News
The Iraqi Oil Ministry has denied any changes to Karbala's refinery, as reported by its spokesman. Asim Jihad told Aswat al-Iraq that all agreements on Karbala's refinery site were set with the Transport Ministry, and denied reports that the site had been changed due to its proximity to Al-Furat Airport. Karbala's Energy and Fuel Commission […]
Bloomberg and Reuters report that Iraq has invited foreign companies to compete for a $450 million monorail project in the southern holy city of Kerbala [Karbala]. The city, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, hosts the shrines of two Shi'ite imams and hosts millions of Shi'ite pilgrims each year at several major religious rites. […]
AKnews reports that over 16 million pilgrims flocked to Karbala to mark Arbain, the 40th day after Ashura, which is the day Shiite's believe Imam Hussein Ibn Ali was martyred in the 7th century. The deputy leader of the Karbala Provincial Council Nassif, Jassem al-Khutabi, told AKnews that over half a million come from abroad, […]
A new railway line between Karbala and Musayyib [Musayyab] was opened this week by the Transport Ministry, reports AKnews. The new line was opened in Babil and Karbala Provinces just to the south of Baghdad, to transport Shiite pilgrims marking the 40th day after Hussein Ibn Ali was martyred. Around 8,000 people are expected to […]
Iraq's National Investment Commission (NIC) announced on Monday the details of the new Kerbala Monorail, and invited interested parties to contact them: Length of the line (18 KM) Project Type (Monorail) - High Concrete mono rail of two ways known locally as Kerbala Monorail. Number of stations (20) the distance between each station and another […]
Karbala relies heavily on Iranian pilgrims to important religious sites in the area. But hotel owners are crying foul: they say Iranians are openly monopolizing tourism in Karbala and covertly buying up local properties, according to this article from Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views […]
Lafarge plans to triple cement production over the next two to three years at its plant in Karbala, according to Bloomberg. Eric le Blan, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge's partner MerchantBridge, told the agency that production at Karbala would increase from 576,000 tons of cement per year to at least 1.8 million tons by 2013 […]
The Iraqi Oil Ministry wants to build two new refineries in the provinces of Karbala [Kerbala] and Missan [Maysan], in order to reduce the country's dependency on foreign oil imports, according to AKnews. The one in Karbala will produce up to 140.000 barrels of fuel per day, the one in Missan up to 150,000. The […]
Levels of violence rose in Iraq for the fourth week in a row last week, with a number of people killed and injured in nationwide attacks. Violence was concentrated in Baghdad, Mosul and the districts surrounding the capital. As warned in last week’s Security Update on Iraq Business News there were several attacks conducted against […]
Levels of violence rose in Iraq over the past week. Conditions are still quieter than July and June but they have been gradually worsening over the course of September. Last week saw a series of brutal attacks, mainly in the central region, affecting Baghdad and the provinces of Anbar and Babil. Mosul in the north […]
The current world focus is on Libya, with AKE now ranking Tripoli as being much more hostile a working environment than Baghdad. However, conditions are still fluid and unstable in Iraq, and levels of violence have crept up in the country for the third consecutive week. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in […]
Up until Monday, the past week was turning into one of the quietest so far this year, but then a series of mass casualty attacks swept the country, leaving dozens of people dead and injured. Provincial government buildings and security force installations and patrols were the most common targets of the attacks, although civilians were […]
