Newspapers published in Baghdad today, Thursday, June 6, concerned on the proportions of development road designs, closing the corruption of customs exemptions… and other issues.
Regarding the development road designs, Al-Zawraa newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, talked about the completion of 75% of the initial designs of the railway line and 68% of the express land line within the development road project.
Director of the Media Office of the Ministry of Transport, Maitham Al-Safi, said in an interview with the newspaper: ‘The government meeting chaired by the Prime Minister regarding the development road project witnessed the future vision and studies presented by the relevant ministries and institutions regarding the advisory study to link energy projects, communications projects, and others and their contradicts in the project, as well as strategic studies consistent with the project and its future prospects.’
Al-Safi added: ‘The completion rate for the initial designs
of the railway line project reached 75 %, and the land express line’s completion rate ranges from 66 to 68 %, 90 % for soil exploration operations, and 1,200 kilometers for topographical survey operations.’
Regarding Al-Faw Port, he explained: ‘Al-Faw Port represents a basic pillar for a sustainable economy, especially in the future after this project merges with the development road,’ indicating: ‘The completion rate is high in this project, as Berth No. 5 has been completed, in addition to Berths 1, 2, 3, and 4, which were completed in the previous months, as the completion rate in the five berths project reaches 95 %, and it will be fully received next October.’
Regarding the line linking the port of Al-Faw and the city of Umm Qasr, he pointed out: ‘The completion rate in this project has reached 78 %, in addition to the bridges in this project, the completion rates of which have reached 80 %. with regard to the submerged tunnel, the completion rates are also in remarkable progress, the casting work has
been completed in the last ten pieces of the submerged tunnel, which will constitute a qualitative leap at the transport level as well as at the port level in general.
As for Al-Sabah newspaper, which is published by the Iraqi Media Network, it focused on the issue of closing the corruption of customs exemptions.
In this regard, it said: ‘The head of the Customs Authority revealed the closure of the widespread customs exemption corruption in investment and industrial projects, and ‘judicial” prosecuting the owners of violating projects in order to recover customs duties.’
The advisor at the Ministry of Finance, head of the Authority, Hassan Hammoud Al-Ugaili, said in an interview with Al-Sabah: ‘The violations that accompanied the customs exemptions for the first ten years of approved investment projects have decreased significantly to the degree of (zero) and in an unprecedented manner,’ noting that ‘the audit team’s procedures for requests the customs exemption formed by the Council of Ministers in March
2023 comes after the role of our body through inspection committees to detect and verify the arrival of cargos to the correct place, as well as the extent of the use of raw materials in production in the quantities and types described in the customs declaration.
He added: ‘The customs inspection committees seized a number of fictitious projects present on the papers and others were empty structures of exempted imported equipment,’ revealing ‘the owners of the fictitious violating projects that are empty of production equipment are being judicially prosecuted in order to recover customs duties.’
Also in the economic matter, Al-Zaman newspaper followed the signing of the Iraqi Trade Bank and the German Export Credit Corporation, an agreement to finance private sector projects.
It indicated, quoting an official statement: ‘Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani sponsored the signing of the agreement, which came to finance private sector development projects within the government’s sovereign guarantees initia
tive.’
It quoted Al-Sudani as saying: ‘Iraq is on the verge of a qualitative shift in company registration procedures within electronic procedures.’
The newspaper added: ‘Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani opened the second specialized workshop to support the private industrial construction sector.’
It pointed out: ‘al-Sudani viewed an exhibition that included the products of the private industrial sector of construction materials, appreciating the efforts made to provide them.’
Source: National Iraqi News Agency