An Open Letter to Mr Nechirvan Barzani

By:Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany

nhawramany@yahoo.com

Dear Mr Prime Minister

Re: Neglect of the Kurdish Capital Hawler (Erbil)

Allow me to shed some light on the current state of Hawler, the capital of Kurdistan federal region,  as I have perceived it following a personal visit about one year ago, as well as through following of news and documentaries about Hawler from your own Kurdistan TV, and lastly from the impressions of many other exiled Kurds who visited Hawler recently.

The general impression is that Hawler is probably one of the most neglected and run down capitals of any state or province in the world. The vital streets of Hawler (30-meter and 60-meter ring streets) as well as main streets of Hawler are full of holes and the state of its Tarmac is miserable, the pavements of many streets does not deserve this name because it` s not paved but made of clumps of mud and stones, the sewage water is running openly through the streets in residential areas as well as in the markets and shopping places.  There is no Zebra zones for pedestrians and children to cross the streets safely, there is no marked lanes on the streets, so the cars are running in the most bizarre and disorganized way partly because of these absent street lanes and partly to avoid the potholes which cover the streets  which resembles  the holes of an Emmentaler Swiss cheese, the spaces which divide the streets are devoid of any plants or flowers  and are covered only with bare dust. there is seldom any public green spaces in Hawler.

I know that you might say that our resources are limited or that our Kurdish cities were long neglected by Ba`ath regime of Saddam Hussein,  I can't disagree with your Excellency on that, but I think the main cause of it is the lacking of any city design to build a modern city worth of being a capital and the widespread corruption and inefficiency  and lack of inspiration among many officials who run the city now.

Allow me to bring some examples to substantiate my judgements:

1. On June 1^st 2005, I watched a camera tour from Al-Sharqiya T.V. station in Hawler and to be precise in the market place of Sheikh-U-Allah in Hawler, the camera of the journalist stayed long to show the miserable state of the pavements of, with vendors sitting on the dusty uneven and dirty pavements selling their simple products, the sewage water was covering the street and there was a total chaos there. The cameraman then interviewed one of the Kurdish citizens   who asked the Alsharqiya TV. to bring electricity and drinking water to Hawler and pointed to the excavated pavement and said with resignation and sadness that this has been so for the last two years!!. Sheikh-U-Allah region is the heart of trade and business in Hawler and should look like a modern or at least a clean and organized trade centre. the municipality of Hawler should allocate workers to clean it regularly and those poor street vendors must be provided with Kiosks or decent places and we shouldn't be begging Baghdad again to bring improvements here as this poor citizen tried to do , out of his desperation.

2. On May 31^st 2005 , I saw a documentary report by Kurdistan TV about the state of the streets in Hawler, almost all those drivers interviewed complained about the many big potholes and defects of the streets, many of them pointing out sarcastically that this help to decrease Road-Traffic-Accidents because they have to drive very slowly and manoeuvre between those potholes in the streets to avoid damage to their cars, while others complained that they have to spend large sums of their incomes on car repairs because such streets are damaging their cars.

Then the reporter made an interview with Hawler Governor Mr Nawzad Hadi, and instead of recognizing his failures to do anything about such miserable state of inner streets of Hawler, he started to bring very unconvincing excuses like lack of Asphalt and how they have to buy it from black market!! Or that they are busy doing some other intersections or streets in Hawler residential areas that they don't have enough asphalt or resources to repair the vital streets of the capital. His arguments were unconvincing and  a crude unsuccessful attempt to cover up his inefficient administration, probably the people in Hawler  have reached such a state of helplessness to fight this booming corruption in Hawler that they have given up on their beloved city Hawler, but for an outsider it's a joke if you call Hawler with its current situation a capital!.

3. Mr Imad Ahmad the deputy PM (Slemani administration) has made a statement in Slemani on 28^th May 2005, that the budget of Slemani administration for the year 2005 is one Billion and 141 million dollars ( 1141 million USD), and I assume that the budget of Hawler administration must be at least twice that sum plus the incomes from taxes levied on thousands of Turkish trucks which cross the Habur border crossing gate in Ibrahim-Alkhalil.

So I can hardly understand how could Hawler be so neglected with such huge budget which is unprecedented for Kurdistan in Iraq's history.

4. The condition of Hawler to me is unfortunately an analogue to the miserable situation of Basrah governorate in the south, which in spite of its immense oil wealth from Basrah oil fields,  is suffering deterioration in every aspect of life.

5. The allocation off resources for other quasi projects, should not make an excuse for neglecting Hawler to such a degree and I really don't understand how the municipal and city councils of Hawler, which should audit the work of the governor and other officials would allow such an inefficiency and corruption unless they are totally powerless!!

Dear Prime Minister

I hope that you will read my comments with an open heart and mind,  because in democratic societies every citizen is entitled to question any action of the government if he thinks that things are going in a wrong direction and I will be grateful for your kind reply.