2024-01-14T18:44:11+00:00
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/ The local government in Muthanna revealed, on Sunday, the latest developments in the case of the Al-Jumaimah border crossing with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while indicating the financial cost of the infrastructure of the crossing.
Muthanna Planning Director, Qabel Hamoud, told Agency, “The infrastructure of the port has not been completed yet, despite the approval to open it several years ago, and the financial cost exceeds 150 billion Iraqi dinars, as it contains police headquarters, customs, a health center, water and electricity stations, and other projects, and the matter requires the intervention of the federal government.”
He added, “The outlet currently has a passable road that reaches the Saudi border, and there is also approval from the Saudi side to open it, and since there are those from Baghdad and Riyadh, the governorate has submitted a proposal that includes installing caravan buildings for the purpose of opening it and running the work on it until its infrastructure is completed in the future.”
He explained that “the outlet is located exclusively within the Muthanna Governorate and directly opposite the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There was no conflict with the Najaf Governorate over the outlet until recently, as the latter demanded it despite the fact that the distance between it and the actual location of the outlet is 70 kilometers within the borders of Muthanna.”
Hamoud pointed out that “there is no balance or fairness in the distribution of local income resources between the provinces, as Najaf has an airport and religious shrines and does not have the right to seize everything.”
He stressed that “there is a higher committee formed in Baghdad, which includes members and representatives from the two governorates to decide the issue of the port’s ownership and which governorate it belongs to. We hope that there will be central justice in the matter and that the people of Muthanna will be given their rights in this regard, noting that the higher committee has assigned representatives of the two governorates to submit feasibility studies on the issue.”
Hamoud expressed his fear of “the influence of Najaf’s political weight on the federal government’s decisions and giving it the right to own the port,” threatening that if that happened, “the decision will be up to the people of Muthanna to allow them to take their rights or not.”