PISHDAR, Kurdistan Region – The Kele border crossing that connects the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Iran has been an important gateway for trade on both sides, but remains undeveloped and neglected, residents and officials complain.
“People in this area dream of the day this border crossing becomes officially international,” says Ibrahim Hiroi, a truck driver who has worked in the area for several years. “Apart from the local people, the government too will benefit a lot,” he says.
Kele connects the cities of Qaladze in Iraqi Kurdistan with Sardasht on the Iranian side. It is located in a rugged area, with winding mountain roads that arrive at a customs zone.
According to Abdulhamid Abdullah, the district mayor, the difficult terrain is one reason the border crossing still remains underdeveloped. He said that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is working on its expansion.
“We will try to build asphalt roads through a special budget and the Iraqi government has pledged to recognize it as an international crossing once that is done,” Abdullah told Rudaw. He said he has lobbied Iraq’s trade minister to turn the border into an international crossing.
The Iranian side of the frontier remains a little more developed: The Sardasht administration has built a customs zone where businessmen and trucks can exchange merchandise.
Cement, sand and other construction materials are among the main products imported into the Kurdistan Region through the Kele crossing.
“If this border becomes international, local people’s lives will change and therefore we hope and wait for both the Kurdish and Iranian governments to do this,” says Azad Hama, a truck driver and local resident on the Iraqi side.
Acknowledging the importance of the crossing for trade, the KRG allocated billions of Iraqi dinars in 2011 to build durable roads on its side of the border.
According to Rasul Braim, who won a contract for building the road, 90 percent of the project has been finished.
“Our main challenge is that there are many trucks on that road,” says Braim. “They go without weighing their loads and this damages the road.”
Wahid Jalalzadeh, the governor of Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, had earlier told Rudaw that the close proximity of Kele to two other official border crossings such as Bashmakh and Haji Omran make it unworthy of being named an international crossing.
Meanwhile, lack of official interest on both sides to develop the crossing has turned it into a smuggling route for some residents.
