Shafaq News- Basra

Employees of Basra’s state-owned fertilizer company protested on Monday against plans to transfer one of its government-operated production lines to private investment, warning of job losses and lower state revenues.

Protest representative Farqad Ahmed told Shafaq News that the proposed arrangement would leave the state with only 20% of production, with the remainder going to the investor. “The plant’s only problem is that it needs liquidity from the state,” he said, adding that it has generated more than one trillion Iraqi dinars ($0.76 billion) in state revenue and employs around 5,000 workers.

Privatizing the line, Ahmed cautioned, could put thousands of those jobs at risk.

Another protester, Ahmed Youssef, urged Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to keep the facility under state management and direct private investment toward new projects instead. “The plant is not dilapidated. It only needs some raw materials to operate at full capacity,” he told Shafaq News.

Youssef noted that employees work around hazardous substances, including ammonia and gas, for salaries of about 300,000 dinars ($228), but stressed that their protest centers on keeping the plant in the public sector rather than seeking higher wages.

An ammonia gas leak at an investment-operated production line at the same fertilizer complex killed two people and injured 114 on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry.