Shafaq News- Karbala
Ain al-Tamr district in Iraq’s Karbala province is seeing growth in industrial, oil, and service projects, the district’s Mayor Miqdad Wahab Al-Tamimi told Shafaq News on Wednesday.
Karbala Cement Plant, located in the district, is among Iraq’s largest cement production facilities and has recently increased output beyond its designed capacity, Al-Tamimi said, explaining that the plant relies on locally sourced raw materials, with limestone supplied from quarries along the Karbala–Al-Hajj Al-Bari road, while clay materials come from the Al-Zarka and Al-Faj areas.
Established in 1984, the plant currently operates under a joint investment arrangement with the Iraqi State Company for Cement, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals. The facility has a designed production capacity of 1.9 million tons annually but has raised output in recent years to more than 2.3 million tons of salt-resistant Portland cement per year.
Al-Tamimi said German company Krupp Polysius established the plant before it signed a long-term investment agreement in 2010 with France’s Lafarge and Iraq’s Al-Ruwad Company to rehabilitate and develop production lines.
In the oil sector, the mayor 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 exploration and production activities in the area, he added.
On infrastructure projects, Al-Tamimi clarified that authorities are implementing an electricity substation project with a capacity of 11/33 kilovolts at a cost of nearly 6 billion Iraqi dinars, in addition to projects to develop and rehabilitate several roads in the district.
“The service projects also include demolishing and rebuilding the civil defense building and establishing an agricultural division dedicated to Ain al-Tamr to improve public services,” he added, stressing that Ain al-Tamr ranks first among Karbala’s districts and cities in wheat production, with annual output exceeding 200,000 tons, making it one of the province’s key agricultural areas.
Located west of Karbala province in central Iraq, Ain al-Tamr covers an area of about 1,956 square kilometers and lies around 85 kilometers from Karbala city. The district includes three administrative sub-districts: 20, 23, and 24.