BASRA: A local company in Basra on Tuesday implemented an iron bridge on al-Howeer river north of Basra at a total cost of 690 million Iraqi dinars ($550,000).
"The bridge is located in al-Howeer river in Ezzuldin Saleem region in al-Madinah district, north of Basra," Engineer Ziyad AliFadel told Aswat al-Iraq.
"The 54-meter-length bridge, will link the two regions of Howayr and Eikab in al-Howeer al-Kabeer region, which is a famous commercial area in the north of Basra," he explained.
"The project was completed in five months," he also said.
Basra, 590 km (340 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an estimated metropolitan population of 2,300,000 in 2008.
Basra, a Shiite province with 20 percent of the population are Sunnis, is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history.
The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock.
A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide.
The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra has the commercial ports of Iraq.
© Aswat Aliraq 2008
