8 highways soon built in Thi-Qar

Falluja-Explosions THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: Projects worth $750,000 U.S. dollars to build eight highways in Thi-Qar province have been referred to local companies, the head of the local roads department said on Thursday. “The projects include the establishment of a road leading to the historical Yokha city, near al-Nasr district (60 km north of Nassiriya), a road linking al-Shatra Bridge to Bani Zayd checkpoint and al-Hasasira-Sayyid Dakheel Road,” Engineer Abdelkareem Qays Abdelkareem told IraqiNews.com. Thi-Qar, 380 km south of Baghad, has an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. Thi-Qar was the second Iraqi province where security responsibilities were transferred from the Multi-National Force (MNF) to the Iraqis. The province’s capital is the city of al-Nassiriya. It also includes the ancient Sumerian ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash and Ngirsu. Before 1976 the province was known as al-Muntafiq. SS (P)/SR 1