Governmental procedures to prepare Ur ancient city for tourism
The ancient city of Ur. Al-Jazeera image.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Dhi Qar Antiquities Department announced on Thursday that governmental procedures are being followed to prepare the ancient city of Ur for tourism, according the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“There is an interest from the local government, the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Culture to prepare the ancient city of Ur to start receiving tourists,” Director of Ur city, Ali Kadhim, said in a statement to INA.
“Provision of tourism necessary services and construction works of the tourist city located near the ancient city are ongoing. Amounts of money have been allocated for the renovation of buildings, maintenance works and other facilities in Ur city,” Kadhim explained.
“Tourists continue to visit the city and we expect that the number of tourists will increase after the completion of the developments,” Kadhim added.
Dhi Qar Antiquities Department announced earlier that it allocated 0.9 square kilometers to build Ur tourist city, and the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers confirmed the allocation of 10 billion dinars to develop the ancient city of Ur.
“The concerned committee in the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers continues it meetings to develop the city of Ur. 10 billion dinars from the fund of Dhi Qar governorate were allocated during the most recent meeting to proceed with the infrastructure of the tourist city next to the ancient city of Ur,” the spokesperson of the General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers, Haidar Majid, said in a statement to INA.
Majid also confirmed that a contracted was signed with one of the local construction companies, and it started constructing the infrastructure of the tourist city in preparation for the rest of the development works.