OPEC member Iraq has approved plans to build a new city housing oil and petrochemical industries within a post-war strategy to develop the industrial sector, an official was quoted on Wednesday as saying. 

The city will be built in the central Karbala Governorate and it has already attracted 569 applications to set up plants, Governor Nasif Al-Khattabi said. 

He told the official Alsabah newspaper that the city would be spread over an area of around 12 million square metres and is the 4th of its kind in Iraq after those in the Southern port of Basra, as well as Dhi Qar and Alanbar Governorates. 

“We have received approval from the Industry Ministry to construct a large industrial city covering mainly oil and petrochemical industries,” Khattabi said. 

In May, the Industry Minister revealed plans to build industrial cities for various products in five governorates within a drive to rebuild the manufacturing sector and lessen reliance on volatile crude exports. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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