|
Kurdistan villagers see flame of hope
27.10.2008
By Robin Pagnamenta in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan
|
|
|
October 27, 2008
Erbil-Hewler,
Kurdistan region "Iraq", — Standing on his
front porch, Karim Amin gazes out across a barren
brown landscape until his eyes rest on a bulb of
brilliant red flame punctuating the horizon.
“It makes me happy to see this,” he says, smiling at
the flare atop a gleaming new gas plant stretched
out beneath him. “We hope it will finally bring us
prosperity.”
Mr Karim, an elderly farmer in a small Kurdish
village,www.ekurd.net
has been waiting a long
time. Iraq's largest private sector investment
opened this month, but more than 20 years ago, long
before two companies from the United Arab Emirates
decided to plough $650 million into its
construction, he and his neighbours were forced to
flee — a victim of Saddam's genocide against the
Kurds.
“In 1987, the Baathists came and killed many people,
destroyed our village. I came back three years ago
but have had a bad life here. We hope things can now
become better.”
The new gas plant, already producing 75 million cu
ft of gas a day, is one of the first concrete signs
that the economic fortunes of this troubled region
are improving.
Continued wrangling over export licences between the
central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish
Regional Government (KRG) means the gas being
produced here will not be for export. Instead it
will be used to feed two new power stations in
Kurdistan,www.ekurd.net
which together will
generate 1,250MW of electricity — a step that the 4
million locals hope will finally end frequent power
cuts.
Majid Jafar, the executive director of Crescent
Petroleum — one of the project's two UAE backers —
claims that the project “will provide important
economic and social benefits for the Kurdistan
region and all of Iraq”.
As discussions continue in Baghdad about the
development of Iraq's oil and gas wealth, this new
project could be a sign of things to come.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, timesonline
co.uk
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 