Basra’s Abi al-Khaseeb hospital renovated

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Under the supervision of Basra’s construction unit, a local company on Sunday initiated work on a project to renovate Abi al-Khaseeb Hospital at a cost of over 331 million dinars, according to a local official. “Work includes the construction of two lobbies, rooms for physicians and nurses, and a large hall, and the installation of an elevator,” the head of the unit, Engineer Ziyad Ali, told IraqiNews.com. Basra, 590 km (340 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an estimated metropolitan population of 2,300,000 in 2008. Basra, a Shiite province with 20% of the population are Sunnis, is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history. The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city’s oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname “The Venice of the Middle East” at least at high tide. The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra has the commercial ports of Iraq. SS (S) 1