Shafaq New- Nineveh

Iraq’s Mosul Municipality on Thursday expressed readiness to implement the Nineveh Provincial Council's decision to remove an ISIS-era earth barrier and issue building permits for eligible landowners as soon as it receives the required official directives.

Municipality Director Mohammed Al-Agha told Shafaq News that work in the Qaz Fakhrah and Jaliokhan areas would begin "without any delay,” noting that both areas fall within Mosul's master plan, with no legal obstacles to issuing building permits once title deeds and service plans are verified.

Al-Agha added that Al-Qusiyat, Al-Abbasiya, and Al-Kindi fall outside the municipality's jurisdiction and are administered by other authorities.

On Tuesday, the Nineveh Provincial Council approved a package of measures lifting long-standing restrictions on construction on legally registered private land on the outskirts of Mosul as part of efforts to resolve a land dispute that intensified after the defeat of ISIS. The measures require municipalities to issue building permits to owners holding officially registered freehold property titles, begin land-leveling work, remove security barriers erected during the ISIS conflict, and hold officials accountable for obstructing implementation.

Iraq's Shabak community —an ethnic and religious minority concentrated in the Nineveh Plains— announced plans to challenge the decision before Iraq's administrative and Federal courts, arguing that it overlooks constitutional protections for minority-populated areas.

Read more: Nineveh Council lifts building restrictions on Mosul outskirts amid demographic dispute