PM inaugurates Basra’s new provincial building

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday opened the new building of Basra Governorate, according to the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV channel. “Accompanied by the head of Basra’s construction and services support committee, Safaa el-Din al-Safi, Maliki inaugurated the building after construction works were wrapped up,” Basra’s governor, Mohammed Masbah al-Waili, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The reconstruction project has been carried out in three stages,” the governor noted, adding that it cost over 6 billion Iraqi dinars (1 U.S. dollar = 1,118 Iraqi dinars). The Shiite city of Basra, the capital of Basra province, lies 590 km south of Baghdad. SS (P) 1