Revealed the Civil Aviation Authority of Iraq, on Monday, for their quest to create the largest international airport in the country’s province of Karbala at a cost of up to $ 2.5 billion, expressing its intention to support its fleet with the latest aircraft giant and doubling the number is three times in 2016, to revive investment in the travel and tourism sector and attract greater possible number of tourists.

This came in an interview published in UAE daily The National, with the Director-General of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, Nasser Hussein, in Baghdad, and seen by (Presse term).

The newspaper quoted Hussain, as saying that “the government will unveil next week a list of contractors that will bid for the establishment of a new international airport in Karbala (108 km south of Baghdad), at a cost of up to two billion and 500 million dollars,” adding that “the new airport will be the largest in the country with a capacity of up to 20 million passengers a year.”

The newspaper The National, that “Iraq possesses the world’s fifth largest oil reserves in the world seeks to revive and develop infrastructure for the aviation sector in the country after being hit by airports and Fleet National ruined by decades of war, sanctions and neglect.”

According to the paper, that “the Iraqi Airways applied for eight Airbus SAS with 39 Boeing Modern type Dreamliner include 787″.

The Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Iraq, according to the newspaper Emirates, that “Iraq intends to implement a plan to expand the size of his fleet national airspace and increase the number of planes for more than three-fold, for up to 65 aircraft by the year 2016,” noting that “Iraqi Airways is currently in talks with Canadian company Bombardier aircraft maker in a deal estimated at $ 200 million for the supply of a series CSeries-100 aircraft with seat percent, received by the year 2016 if the signing of the contract. ”

He attributed Hussein, choose a site holy city of Kerbala, to create the airport the largest in Iraq, according to the newspaper, that he was a “strategically located at a distance of 40 km from other cities are important, such as Najaf (160 km) south of Baghdad, and Hilla, (100 km) south of Algiers, to absorb the momentum at the international airports in Baghdad and Najaf. ”

The Director General of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, we were Emirati newspaper reported that “the giant companies submitted their offers for the establishment of the airport, some of them from the United States, Germany, Turkey, Italy and the United Arab Emirates”, without revealing their names.

And on the date of commencement of the project, said Hussein, according to the newspaper, that “to begin the first phase of the project Karbala International Airport, will be with the beginning of next October,” pointing out that such “phase includes construction of the runway with the final airport terminal.”

He said Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Iraq, that “the second phase includes construction of runway another and another station,” and expressed the hope that “is funded by a portion of the costs of the project through private investment, and otherwise, the Civil Aviation Authority will seek to get the cost of the project from the Iraqi government” .

The former Transport Minister, Amer Abdul-Jabbar, set in 2009, the foundation stone for the airport Kerbala, south of the city, and at a distance of about 20 km towards the province of Najaf, despite that one of the French companies submitted designs for the airport a total value of about $ 40 million, is that the work did not proceed with it until now.

Karbala was formed, in the (second from May 2013), a committee of several municipal departments to coordinate their efforts within the framework of the implementation of the related infrastructure projects to the airport (Euphrates).

And raises talk about airport Euphrates, among other problems, there are hundreds of farms that supply the surrounding cities with vegetables threatened removal because they occur within the airport design basis, has rejected the state compensate all farmers, and promised mostly bypassing the land is not for them, while systems farmers turn several demonstrations and أفشلوا celebration organized by the Ministry of Transport to الإيذان to begin the first phase of the implementation of the project, demanding the removal of the airport several kilometers from their farms, and in front of the continuation of the protests state retreated from its earlier decision not to compensate farmers abusers, and decided to compensate everyone.

It is intended Karbala millions of visitors annually from inside and outside Iraq, to ​​visit its holy shrines.

It is noteworthy that Iraq possessed six civilian airports including Baghdad International Airport, which was established in 1982 by a French company, and is one of the largest Iraqi airports, and there are other airports in Mosul, Basra, Najaf, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.

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