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Official: Kirkuk to build international airport
Friday, 21 August, 2015
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Iraq’s government has approved plans to construct an international airport in Kirkuk province, officials said Friday.
Authorities said Hurriya military airbase on the outskirt of the city of Kirkuk, the provincial capital, will be revamped into a modern airport with international and national flights.
“It is hugely important to us in Kirkuk to have an airport because of business opportunities in the city which are in desperate need of more effective communications,” said Jabar Hasan, a representative with the Kirkuk Investment Board.
Hurriya airfield is currently being used as a military base by the Peshmarga forces and belongs to the Iraqi Defense Ministry, according to Kirkuk’s governor.
“Hopefully, the Defense Ministry will soon grant us the permission to build the new airport which an oil city like Kirkuk is very much in need of,” Governor Najmadin Karim told reporters Friday.
Karim said Baghdad had in the past promised to allocate funds to build the much-needed airbase but had delayed it repeatedly because of financial difficulties.
With over population of over one million, Kirkuk has seen frequent bombings and suicide attacks in the past decade as Iraq slipped into bitter sectarian strife. The city is less than an hour’s drive away from Erbil,
City officials say the attacks have effectively degraded their ability to rebuild the city that holds more than 10 percent of Iraq’s crude oil reserves.
International flights are currently available from both Erbil and Sulaimani airports. Construction of a third airport is underway in Dohuk in the northern part of the Kurdistan region.
Erbil International Airport announced earlier this year that over 1.5 million passengers had passed through its terminals.
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Friday, 21 August, 2015
0 Comments
Iraq’s government has approved plans to construct an international airport in Kirkuk province, officials said Friday.
Authorities said Hurriya military airbase on the outskirt of the city of Kirkuk, the provincial capital, will be revamped into a modern airport with international and national flights.
“It is hugely important to us in Kirkuk to have an airport because of business opportunities in the city which are in desperate need of more effective communications,” said Jabar Hasan, a representative with the Kirkuk Investment Board.
Hurriya airfield is currently being used as a military base by the Peshmarga forces and belongs to the Iraqi Defense Ministry, according to Kirkuk’s governor.
“Hopefully, the Defense Ministry will soon grant us the permission to build the new airport which an oil city like Kirkuk is very much in need of,” Governor Najmadin Karim told reporters Friday.
Karim said Baghdad had in the past promised to allocate funds to build the much-needed airbase but had delayed it repeatedly because of financial difficulties.
With over population of over one million, Kirkuk has seen frequent bombings and suicide attacks in the past decade as Iraq slipped into bitter sectarian strife. The city is less than an hour’s drive away from Erbil,
City officials say the attacks have effectively degraded their ability to rebuild the city that holds more than 10 percent of Iraq’s crude oil reserves.
International flights are currently available from both Erbil and Sulaimani airports. Construction of a third airport is underway in Dohuk in the northern part of the Kurdistan region.
Erbil International Airport announced earlier this year that over 1.5 million passengers had passed through its terminals.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
