ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish government officials announced today that a bridge under construction will finish and the Erbil-Kirkuk highway will reopen on Sunday almost a year after it was closed following military confrontations between Iraqi and Kurdish forces around the town of Pirde.
"The road is complete," a KRG delegate involved in negotiations with Iraqi officials told Rudaaw. "Only few small things are left such as traffic signs. Hopefully it will be reopened tomorrow."
A bridge connecting Kirkuk and Erbil provinces at Pirde was blown up last October after Iraqi troops and the Peshmerga came to clashes around the town in the aftermath of the indepdenence referendum.
Kurdish and Iraqi officials held several rounds of talks in recent months to open the road and they agreed on jointly building a steel bridge in place of the one blown up last year.
The opening of the road is also seen as a sign of improving relations between Baghdad and Erbil.
KRG has spent 220 million dinars (US$180,000) on building the temporary steel bridge. The Iraqi government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also said to dedicate a special fund for a permanent bridge.
.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
