ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Officials in Erbil are ready to reopen the Erbil-Kirkuk road, but it is dependent upon rebuilding the bridge in Pirde which costs an estimated 700 million Iraqi dinars (about $588,000) to repair.
Both Erbil governorship and council have sent official letters to Baghdad, demanding to reopen the main roads connecting Erbil to Kirkuk and Erbil to Makhmour, but Baghdad has not yet replied.
“These roads shall be rebuilt because the normalization of traffic benefits everyone, but surely this needs efforts from both sides, especially from Baghdad. There should be very good initiatives in this regard,” Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil told Rudaw.
Before October 16 events, the road from Kirkuk provided was a route for commerce and travelers, but in the past four months a lack of traffic has forced businessmen to shut down shops and gas stations.
Previously, it took about an hour to go from Erbil to Kirkuk but now passengers have to take a secondary driving route through Sulaimani province that is about three hours, mostly affecting those who the route daily basis.
Muhammad Jasim, a driver, told Rudaw the secondary road is “far and full of potholes.”
The Erbil-Kirkuk-Sulaimani route was mostly a divided highway which allowed safer and more direct travel between the three provincial capitals.
“Today, a car overturned on the road which forced us to wait for four hours … I demand the reopening of this [Erbil-Kirkuk route],” said another driver, Haji Khadar Abdullah, adding that no day passes without car accident.
Kurdish officals opened the checkpoint on their side of Pirde (also called Altun Kupri).
As part of the effort to normalize businesses relations between the provinces of the Kurdistan Region and those of Iraq, a security official in Erbil said they were ready to open the Erbil-Kirkuk and Erbil-Makhmour roads.
“We are not a factor for the closure of these roads. They were damaged during fighting, especially the Erbil-Kirkuk road near Pirde [Altun Kupri] town and the bridge was blown up,” Tariq Nuri, the head of Erbil Asayesh, told Rudaw in late February.
When Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Hash al-Shaabi militants launched an offensive on October 16 to drive out Kurdish forces in Kirkuk and other Kurdistani or disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil, Pirde Bridge was destroyed.
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