Official promises to end sewage problem
Nasih Fatih director of KSD...Photo Salam Ansari
In an interview with Kirkuk Now, Nasih Fatih, director of the Kirkuk Sewage Directorate (KSD) says finishing the ongoing sewage project is the only way to end this issue in Kirkuk as he promises to implement 19 projects in 2012.
When he was asked about the state of the sewage system before 2003 he said, “Kirkuk sewage system was designed only to contain rain and not other remnants before 2003, but there should have been a couple of systems both for rain and other forms. Now Kirkuk only has one sewage system to contain other forms, which can be used to handle 1% of the sewage.”
He mentioned their plans after 2013 to implement projects on the budget of Region Reconstructions to their directorate that was 5 to 6 billion Iraqi dinars. However, he was complaining that the budget was very low since the projects need a lot more.
Fatih talked about the problems they have in the KSD, saying that “There’s no proper pipe system in Kirkuk and that is a problem, since the current one is old and cannot bear the amount of sewage in Kirkuk. A lack of budget is another problem to our directorate.”
In the past, the roads and streets of Kirkuk were not paved with asphalt, and that’s why they absorbed 50-60% of the rain. But currently, most of the roads are paved and the sewage system can hardly bear the remaining rain streaming into the pipes. “That’s why we see floods on the streets, especially near Tayaran Square and Quds street,” Fatih said.
When he was asked about a solution to the problem, Fatih said the problem could only be solved by implementing the Kirkuk Sewage Project which is planned by the municipality. The project combines a rain and other sewage system with 400 billion ids.
Last year the Iraqi Ministry of Municipalities (MoM) visited Kirkuk promising them to put the project under implementation for 2012, stating that “In the upcoming days, the project will be announced and implemented.” He also mentioned some marginal projects and said that “We have five big projects to carry sewage with 49 billion ids on the petro-dollar budget.”
Fatih admitted that they cannot solve the problem of all the streets, “Our directorate works on those streets that do not have a sewage system at all as of June 1st, including Khazraw, Wasiti, and Qadisiya. Kirkuk has one pipeline to handle sewage. We are obliged to connect all the neighborhoods to this pipeline which is a temporary solution.”
Qadisyia as a big neigborhood that suffers from the sewage problem, “Our directorate starts implementing a project in this neighborhood (Qadisiya) with 10 billion ids and in two phases. In the first phase we’ll create the main pipelines, and in the second phase the marginal ones.” There are plans to implement similar projects in a couple of other neighborhoods also, named as Askari and Khadhra.
Fatih also complained about the budget of the petro-dollar as, “It only can solve 3% of Kirkuk’s sewage problem.”
The KSD has several projects which are aimed at solving 50% of the sewage problem. Along with the mentioned projects, the Hamzali project will be started on June 1st and the Wasit neighborhoods ending at Wai south of the Kirkuk city. The second project is to create a pipeline to the same neighborhoods.
In the coming days, the Iraqi 2012 budget would be approved, and the 19 projects will be put under implementation according to Fatih.
Salam Ansari – Kirkuk Now
