Four years after the liberation.. The center's bureaucracy and weapons deprive Mosul of reconstruction

Shafaq News / Four years have passed since Mosul's liberation from ISIS's control, and yet investment companies paid the city no heed; despite the opportunities to implement gigantic projects, such as the airport, hospitals, and residential complexes.. especially after the war destroyed thousands of housing units in the city.

Nineveh's Governor, Najim Al-Jubouri told Shafaq News agency, "I am tired of asking Baghdad to ease the complexities and bureaucracy in dealing. Investment remains a central link and stands in the governorate and investors' way".

"It is not the governorate's prerogative to allocate land for investment projects.. if the land belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, approvals must be obtained from it. The governorate cannot offer anything and the PM has promised us to solve this problem –and we are waiting for it.. All the main keys are still in Baghdad's hands and we cannot do anything", Al-Jubouri added.

Regarding strategic projects, such as bridges and the airport, Al-Jubouri told Shafaq News agency, "The bridges file needs more time.. we are working and hustling to open the third bridge early next year, and we will still have the fourth and fifth bridges to be referred to the reconstruction in the coming period and then followed by the sixth bridge (Badosh Bridge)".

As for the airport file, Al-Jubouri said, "The governorate called on the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Planning, and the Reconstruction Fund to help rebuild the airport -the latter has promised to build the tower, fence, and runway after funding is provided. I agreed to allow the French side to conduct a full study of Mosul's airport and rebuild it".

"Baghdad has wasted Mosul's investment opportunities at a time when the city needed it the most, for Baghdad is not serious enough to provide infrastructure and ease obstacles to investors", said economic expert Dr. Ali Aguan.

"Large investment projects such as commercial, residential, or other complexes need the provision of several factors, such as security for investors, infrastructure, and clarity in dealing with the government's concerned authorities", Aguan told Shafaq News agency.

"Investing in Mosul is a difficult dream, and hopes of picking the city out of its wretched reality have been killed.. as the investor cannot enter the government measures' spiral to obtain approvals, and some investors who have ventured into small and medium-sized enterprises have been extorted", Aguan added.

"Any approval of an investment project may take one to two years, then the investors collide with the quotas' reality and the parties' influence, and followed by the arms authority that blackmails the capital. How will businessmen get to work and put their money in a mysterious spiral with all these obstacles?", Mazen Al-Saffar, a businessman from Mosul told Shafaq News agency.

As for the chances of investors entering Mosul, Al-Saffar said, "If the quotas, complex government measures, and extortion by armed groups -affiliated with political parties, do not end, the investing dream in this city is impossible."

"I tried to work after the city's liberation, but I was shocked by the bitter reality. Unless the obstacles are removed, it is impossible to venture into any investment project in the city", Al-Saffar concluded.