Italian Style Coming to Basra

2287 Views 25 Replies 9 Participants Last post by alankurdi, Oct 17, 2010

dude01

Discussion Starter · Oct 13, 2010

Posted on 12 October 2010. Tags: Basra, ENI, mall
Italian Style Coming to Basra

An Italian company is planning to build a new shopping mall in Basra, a source from the Basra local council said on Tuesday.

“A delegation from the company, which belongs to the Italian energy giant ENI, held a meeting with Basra’s governor and a number of local officials to discuss the establishment of a large mall in Basra,” Sadeq al-Safi, the governor’s economic adviser, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The company expressed interest in carrying out several investment projects in Basra,” he added.

“The local government makes every efforts to encourage investment and to facilitate investors’ in the province,” al-Safi noted.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2010/10/12/italian-style-coming-to-basra/

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

sheytanElKebir

· #2 · Oct 13, 2010

ENI won the service contract for the Zubair field in Basra, and this is their "local investment" for the populace.

Lets hope it all goes through (ENI will doubtless provide funds and contractors... lets hope the local authorities don't screw it up with land allocation and logistical / administrative hold ups for the sake of their private "cut").

baghdad_sara

· #3 · Oct 13, 2010

Basra is slowly proving to be more than just the "south of Iraq" this could be Iraq's strongest economical city, certainly has the potential to surpass any success Baghdad has seen since 2003.

sheytanElKebir

· #4 · Oct 13, 2010

baghdad_sara said:
Basra is slowly proving to be more than just the "south of Iraq" this could be Iraq's strongest economical city, certainly has the potential to surpass any success Baghdad has seen since 2003.

its not a could be. It will be, almost inevitable considering that in my view 80% of Iraq's net worth is basra. In fact, without basra the rest of iraq is a poor landlocked country with enough oil just for domestic consumption and having to pay tolls and fees to import or export anything.

the real question is if basra will remain in Iraq in the long run... the only way they can live like "gulf arabs" is by not sharing their oil / gas / ports with 25M+ hungry iraqis to their north (that will increase each basrawis "income" by 700%!!!)

baghdad_sara

· #5 · Oct 13, 2010

^^ Well i hope Basra does improve, the locals need to enjoy their beautiful city but let's hope the latter does not happen, as it would be very disappointing to see one good thing in Iraq turn into yet another misery for the rest of Iraqis.

sheytanElKebir

· #6 · Oct 13, 2010

baghdad_sara said:
^^ Well i hope Basra does improve, the locals need to enjoy their beautiful city but let's hope the latter does not happen, as it would be very disappointing to see one good thing in Iraq turn into yet another misery for the rest of Iraqis.

I'm not a basrawi, but if I was... and I was in charge of basra council.. I'd cut a deal with the americans to base a naval base / air base in Basra and cut-myself off unilaterally from Iraq.

Iraq is basically just a huge leech feeding off basra for the last 60 years... in which time basra became a dump. I would have 0 sympathy for Iraq... for it had leeched off basra for quite a number of decades!

Of course, since I'm not a basrawi... all I can hope for is that they are dumb enough to believe the "iraqi" patriotic rubbish and stay poor by sharing their wealth and ports with us

baghdad_sara

· #7 · Oct 13, 2010

Really i dont think its "patriotic" rubbish in fact i dont think Iraqis are patriotic enough otherwise we would have been on our feet along time ago , but back to the point, Basra is still a part of Iraq and yes it has suffered a hell of a lot under the former regime but who didnt. I think its time to start reconciling our differences, help each other out because a strong overall Iraq is better (for the people) than a divided one.

sheytanElKebir

· #8 · Oct 13, 2010

baghdad_sara said:
Really i dont think its "patriotic" rubbish in fact i dont think Iraqis are patriotic enough otherwise we would have been on our feet along time ago , but back to the point, Basra is still a part of Iraq and yes it has suffered a hell of a lot under the former regime but who didnt. I think its time to start reconciling our differences, help each other out because a strong overall Iraq is better (for the people) than a divided one.

yes of course a:
united iraq is better "overall" for 30M iraqis.
Basra on its own is VERY VERY MUCH better off for 3M in basra... and starvation/cataclysmic collapse for 27M.

in fact, when I was in Iraq about 7 years ago, we were discussing the idea of "kurdistan" becoming independent, and I thought about it quickly... and said, that's not going to work since they're completely landlocked and don't have many resources... but basra on the other hand... with a couple of US bases will be untouchable, and can freely export all the oil and gas and pocket the cash all for itself (instead of 10% of oil they will get 80%... the calculation is unmissable).

baghdad_sara

· #9 · Oct 13, 2010

sheytanElKebir said:
yes of course a:
united iraq is better "overall" for 30M iraqis.
Basra on its own is VERY VERY MUCH better off for 3M in basra... and starvation/cataclysmic collapse for 27M.

No doubt.

sheytanElKebir said:
in fact, when I was in Iraq about 7 years ago, we were discussing the idea of "kurdistan" becoming independent, and I thought about it quickly... and said, that's not going to work since they're completely landlocked and don't have many resources... but basra on the other hand... with a couple of US bases will be untouchable, and can freely export all the oil and gas and pocket the cash all for itself (instead of 10% of oil they will get 80%... the calculation is unmissable).

Good point, though i hope with Basra improving the rest of Iraq isnt forgotten.

elusive

· #10 · Oct 13, 2010 (Edited)

this is taking into account that oil forms much of the economy, which it does..but further down the track when iraq's economy begins to diversity, iraq as a whole will be a major economic hub in the middle east and other parts of iraq will also bring in heaps of revenue

BigDreamer

· #11 · Oct 13, 2010

Just for the record, Basra did hold a referendum to become an autonomous region like Kurdistan few years ago, and the majority voted against it ..

baghdad_sara

· #12 · Oct 13, 2010

I wonder if we have a Basrawi forumer here and what their opinion is?

MKTJ

· #13 · Oct 14, 2010

^^ I think Karar is from Basra. I don't know what happened to him, He didn't post anything in a long time!

elusive

· #14 · Oct 14, 2010

baghdad_sara said:
I wonder if we have a Basrawi forumer here and what their opinion is?

people from Basra are very patriotic despite everything that has happened.

baghdad_sara

· #15 · Oct 14, 2010

Well i guess they have to be, its better to stick together than fight it out. I wish them all the best.

IraqSpirit

· #16 · Oct 14, 2010

baghdad_sara said:
I wonder if we have a Basrawi forumer here and what their opinion is?

I am from Basrah and based on what I hear from my family I dont think anyone is a fan of more control from central baghdad over basrah to continue in the future. However, it is indeed important for the time being since the people do not trust who is controlling the city these days. Despite everything, Baghdad has the power to clean any possible mess. A good example is how Mr. Maliki got involved and used the army to clean the city from its own gangs who are well presented in the council.

BigDreamer

· #17 · Oct 14, 2010

^^ thanks for sharing that IraqSpirit

baghdad_sara

· #18 · Oct 15, 2010

IraqSpirit said:
I am from Basrah and based on what I hear from my family I dont think anyone is a fan of more control from central baghdad over basrah to continue in the future. However, it is indeed important for the time being since the people do not trust who is controlling the city these days. Despite everything, Baghdad has the power to clean any possible mess. A good example is how Mr. Maliki got involved and used the army to clean the city from its own gangs who are well presented in the council.

I share your concerns and can only hope for the best.

kurd123

· #19 · Oct 15, 2010

I wish the very best for basrah. I believe the best way forward is 3 federal regions with in Iraq and Baghdad serving as the federal capital, this however can only happen with fair politicians, and a strong enough army becuase if this happens without a decent army we can kiss goodbye to all of the important regions in Iraq and we might be lucky enough to be left with some deserts.

sheytanElKebir

· #20 · Oct 15, 2010

kurd123 said:
I wish the very best for basrah. I believe the best way forward is 3 federal regions with in Iraq and Baghdad serving as the federal capital, this however can only happen with fair politicians, and a strong enough army becuase if this happens without a decent army we can kiss goodbye to all of the important regions in Iraq and we might be lucky enough to be left with some deserts.

Which is funny because the KRG are actively lobbying around the world to stop countries supplying iraq with weapons!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/us-arming-iraq-should-cease

Indeed, at the recent party conferences in Britain, there were fringe events organised by the Kurdish Regional Government's representative to the UK, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. While the theme was a warning to British business not to be left behind by not investing in the safe haven that is the Kurdish north, during the Q&As Rahman, along with members of the British All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, argued passionately against weapon sales to Baghdad.

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

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