Baghdad – IA
The Council of Ministers issued a number of decisions during its regular session held today, Tuesday, including binding measures to address the threat of pollution.
The Prime Minister’s Media Office said in a statement received by the (INA): “Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani chaired, today, Tuesday, the 42nd regular session of the Council of Ministers, in which the general conditions of the country were discussed, and the economic and development files, and related matters, were followed up.” “Implementing the government program, deliberating on the items on the agenda and taking the necessary decisions thereon.”
The statement added, “The Council discussed the general environmental conditions throughout Iraq, especially in the city of Baghdad and residential urban areas, and considered the reports submitted related to environmental pollution and the decline in scientific readings of air quality, and the reasons behind these data, and approved the following:
First: The Ministry of Environment shall take the necessary measures for the following:
1- Providing modern devices and equipment to provide the necessary data in treating types of environmental pollutants in a scientific and thoughtful manner.
2- Stopping activities that pollute the environment and all activities that generate forms of pollution, including changing the fuel used in the activity, or using special additives or filters that contribute to reducing polluting emissions.
3- Develop a national program to monitor air quality and emissions from various sources, determine the necessary requirements to improve air quality in accordance with the System for Protecting Ambient Air from Pollution No. 4 of 2012, and submit a monthly report to the Council of Ministers on the procedures.
Secondly: The Ministry of Interior shall take the necessary measures for the following:
1- Activating the role and tasks of the Environmental Police in treating environmental waste, reducing polluting events and activities, and taking legal action against violators.
2-Stop waste burning activities in and outside landfill sites, put out current fires in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, and conduct periodic security campaigns to monitor all forms of pollution.
3- Strengthening the intelligence effort in the Environmental Investigation Division to follow up on all environmental violations recorded by the environmental directorates; In order to stop all causes of air pollution in residential areas and outside them.
4- Coordination of the Ministry of Environment with the (CBRN) team of the General Directorate of Civil Defense, regarding measuring levels of pollution throughout Iraq.
Third: The Ministry of Agriculture, the Governorates, and the Municipality of Baghdad are responsible for taking the necessary measures to pay attention to afforestation of the areas surrounding the capital and the governorates, and work to cultivate them and create a green belt to reduce air pollution, as well as prevent the bulldozing of green areas and orchards.
Fourth: The Ministry of Oil shall take the necessary measures for the following:
1- Develop a plan to support and oblige laboratories and factories that use heavy fuel in their activities, and convert them to use liquid gas in operating those laboratories and factories within a period of time not exceeding (6) months.
2-Stop burning oil rigs in the East Baghdad oil field.
3- Adding the necessary units to improve the fuel produced in the Doura refinery and treating the gases emitted from the refinery, as well as treating the liquid discharges from it and converting it to an environmentally friendly refinery.
Fifth: The Baghdad Municipality and all governorates are responsible for taking adequate and rapid measures to establish regular landfills, in accordance with environmental conditions, and improving the efficiency of the environmental conditions of current waste landfills, ensuring the cessation of waste burning in traditional ways, and a shift towards establishing investment projects in treating waste with environmentally friendly techniques and mechanisms.
In the agricultural sector and encouraging farmers to use modern irrigation methods, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
1. The price of a ton of wheat produced from lands that use irrigation with modern systems will be (850) thousand dinars, with a government support amounting to (90%) of the world price.
2. The price of a ton of wheat produced from lands that use traditional irrigation methods will be (800) thousand dinars, with a government support of (75%) of the world price.
3. The above-mentioned prices are for lands included in the agricultural plan only. As for wheat produced outside the agricultural plan, they are priced at the world market price.
4. Develop an integrated plan to ensure the prevention of smuggling cases from outside Iraq, proposed by the concerned authorities to implement it before the start of the marketing season.
5. The Ministry of Agriculture presented the agricultural plan to the Ministerial Council for the Economy to be approved by receipt.
The statement continued, “The Council approved the recommendations of the minutes of the meeting of the joint permanent committee between the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources regarding the winter plan for the season (2024-2025), based on the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005, provided that the committee determines the financial allocations required to implement paragraph ( 6) Of the aforementioned recommendations and the financing mechanism, with the exception of what is related to the plan for the Iraqi Kurdistan region, a meeting will be held in the Ministerial Council for the Economy in the presence of all parties, and its recommendations will be submitted within two weeks.
The statement continued, “The Council of Ministers, in addition to sustaining the effectiveness of our armed forces, approved the signing of a contract between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Pakistani Ministry of Defense, regarding training programs for members of special forces units.”
He continued, “In the health services file, and within the program for managing and operating government hospitals that the government contracted with specialized international companies, in order to provide the best health services, the Council of Ministers approved a direct contract with the company implementing the project to manage and operate the People’s Hospital with a capacity of 200 beds in Baghdad.” In partnership with a company specialized in the field of hospital management and operation, as an exception to the contracting methods stipulated in Article (3) of the Government Contracts Implementation Instructions (2 of 2014).”
The statement indicated, “In financial and economic matters, the Council agreed to increase Iraq’s share in the International Monetary Fund by the equivalent of (831,900,000) SDR, or the equivalent of (1.45025127) trillion dinars, according to the exchange rate on October 8, 2024, provided that an amount is included The increase in allocations for the year 2025, and that the proposed increase will lead to an increase in Iraq’s share in the International Monetary Fund by 50% of the previous share, and to an increase in Iraq’s voting power. As for the field of administrative reform and the continued evaluation of the performance of officials in their duties, the Council of Ministers approved the appointment of 7 of Director-Generals in various ministries, in accordance with the performance evaluation criteria approved by the Council.”
The statement pointed out that, “In continuation of the government’s approach to restarting lagging and stalled projects and sustaining work in infrastructure, the Council of Ministers approved the following:
1. Inclusion of the components (demolishing and re-establishing 2 cultural centers in Rawa and Al-Qaim), (rehabilitating the cultural center in Fallujah), and (demolishing and re-establishing the cultural center in Rutba) within the project (establishing 6 cultural centers in the districts of Anbar Governorate) included within Budgeting the governorate, reducing its financial cost, while increasing the cost of the main project.
2. Increase the amount of reserve and the total cost of the project (the residential complex in Anbar Governorate/Anah).
The statement added, “The Council of Ministers agreed to authorize the General Iron and Steel Company to enter into partnership with a developer to establish an industrial city in Basra Governorate, on the plot numbered (9/17 District 44 Haila), industrial in nature, in accordance with the provisions of the General Companies Law No. 22 of 1997, as an exception.” One of its primary work tasks is that the Industrial Estates Authority may issue a license to develop and manage the aforementioned industrial city, in a manner that does not conflict with applicable legislation.
The statement confirmed that “the Council considered a number of topics presented on the agenda and took the necessary decisions regarding them, as follows:
First: A number of winning players whose names are registered in the book of the Iraqi National Paralympic Committee are included in the privileges set forth in the Council of Ministers’ decision (24703 of 2024), taking care not to repeat the new names with the names included in the aforementioned Council of Ministers’ decision, and the law granting champion and pioneer athletes ( 6 of 2013), including the training and administrative staff of the aforementioned players.
Second: Approval to raise the purchasing and implementation powers of the Oil Projects Company for the new Samawah warehouse project from (250) million dinars to (500) million dinars, as an exception to the instructions to facilitate the implementation of General Budget Law No. (1 of 2023), based on Article (34) of The instructions mentioned above.
Third: Recommendation to the House of Representatives regarding amending the draft civil aviation law issued pursuant to Cabinet Resolution (24441 of 2024) sent to the House of Representatives, including approval of the notes sent by the Civil Aviation Authority regarding the project.