Shafaq News- Karbala
Ain al-Tamr districtin Iraq’s Karbala province is seeing growth in industrial, oil, andservice projects, the district’s Mayor Miqdad Wahab Al-Tamimi told Shafaq Newson Wednesday.
Karbala Cement Plant,located in the district, is among Iraq’s largest cement production facilitiesand has recently increased output beyond its designed capacity, Al-Tamimi said,explaining that the plant relies on locally sourced raw materials, withlimestone supplied from quarries along the Karbala–Al-Hajj Al-Bari road, whileclay materials come from the Al-Zarka and Al-Faj areas.
Established in 1984,the plant currently operates under a joint investment arrangement with theIraqi State Company for Cement, which is affiliated with the Ministry ofIndustry and Minerals. The facility has a designed production capacity of 1.9million tons annually but has raised output in recent years to more than 2.3million tons of salt-resistant Portland cement per year.
Al-Tamimi said Germancompany Krupp Polysius established the plant before it signed a long-terminvestment agreement in 2010 with France’s Lafarge and Iraq’s Al-Ruwad Companyto rehabilitate and develop production lines.
In the oil sector, themayor said Ain al-Tamr has become part of Iraq’s oil-producing geographic area,noting that the region contains oil reserves extending across Karbala, Najaf,and Babil provinces. Chinese companies, led by ZPEC, are conducting explorationand production activities in the area, he added.
On infrastructureprojects, Al-Tamimi clarified that authorities are implementing an electricitysubstation project with a capacity of 11/33 kilovolts at a cost of nearly 6billion Iraqi dinars, in addition to projects to develop and rehabilitateseveral roads in the district.
“The service projectsalso include demolishing and rebuilding the civil defense building andestablishing an agricultural division dedicated to Ain al-Tamr to improvepublic services,” he added, stressing that Ain al-Tamr ranks first amongKarbala’s districts and cities in wheat production, with annual outputexceeding 200,000 tons, making it one of the province’s key agricultural areas.
Located west ofKarbala province in central Iraq, Ain al-Tamr covers an area of about 1,956square kilometers and lies around 85 kilometers from Karbala city. The districtincludes three administrative sub-districts: 20, 23, and 24.