800M dinars for Arbil services projects

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: A total of 800 million Iraqi dinars has been allocated for the implementation of services projects in Arbil’s district of Souran, the local mayor said on Monday. “An amount of $678,500 has been earmarked from the Arbil provincial development projects budget for the construction of services project in Khalifan area,” Karmang Izzat told IraqiNews.com. Nearly $492,000 has been allocated for the maintenance of roads and streets, whereas over $158,600 has been allocated for the construction of a water project in Bawban village, Izzat pointed out. The remaining amount will be set aside for the completion of other projects in the district, Izzat added. Arbil, also written Erbil or Irbil, is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited in the world and is one of the largest cities in Iraq. The city lies eighty kilometers (fifty miles) east of Mosul. In 2005, its estimated population was 990,000 inhabitants. The city is the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region and the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG). It hosts the headquarters of the Kurdistan region ministers and parliament. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, only isolated, sporadic violence has hit Arbil, unlike many other areas of Iraq. Parallel bomb attacks against the Eid celebrations arranged by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan RegionG President Massoud Barazani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) killed 109 people on February 1, 2004. Responsibility was claimed by the Islamist group Ansar al-Sunnah, and stated to be in solidarity with the Kurdish Islamist faction Ansar al-Islam. Another bombing on May 4, 2005 killed 60 civilians. Despite these bombings the population generally feels safe. SS (S) 1