Al-Maaqal Port was re inaugurated on Sunday following a four-month pause due to renovation work that aimed at improving the port's performance.
"Technical teams and engineers from the State Company for Iraqi Ports have finished all rehabilitation work in the port, which was opened today following a four-month stoppage," the company's general director, Salah Khudeir, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
"All equipment has been upgraded and the quays were renovated…," Khudeir noted.
The Shiite province of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has five commercial ports and two oil ports: al-Maaqal, established in 1916 by the British forces and handed over to Iraqi authorities in 1937; and Faw, a small port on the al-Faw Peninsula near the Shatt al-Arab and the Persian Gulf.
In the early 1970s, Umm al-Qasr port was built, and in 1974, Khour al-Zubeir and Abu Falous ports were established on the Shatt al-Arab.
Iraqi army and police forces are currently stationed at the port. Earlier this month, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation called on the government to clear out the port of these personnel.
The ministry has also demanded that the State Company for Iraqi Ports maintains full control over the port.
(Voices of Iraq)
