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New Construction in Erbil

Photo By Pfc. Cynthia Teears Van Cleve | This is the main gate of the new Erbil Police Academy, Erbil, Iraq, Jan. 20. The Erbil...... read more read more

IRAQ

01.26.2009

Story by Spc. Cynthia Teears Van Cleve

11th Public Affairs Detachment

By Cynthia Teears
Multi-National Division – North

ERBIL, Iraq – Throughout the city of Erbil the local citizens can gaze upon new construction and flowers blooming along side the ancient citadel that is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world.

One of the projects is a new complex that consists of an administration building, dormitories, an education building and a dining facility for the Erbil Police Academy.

The complex has its own water system supported by two wells.

The new buildings are bigger to facilitate more students, however, the current police academy buildings only have enough furniture to fill about a quarter of it, said Maj. Gen. Farid Saeed Muhamad, dean, Erbil Police Academy.

The new complex can accommodate 650 students comfortably and a thousand students could be roomed here if they have bunk beds, said Gary York of Yankton, S.D., resident engineer, North District, Gulf Region, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If they bring people from the south up here for training they could accommodate them.

The Erbil Police Academy was first established in 1997 and in the beginning the training was more military oriented, Farid said. They have since adjusted their training to be more focused for police work and service with the community.

There has been a total of 1,564 students trained and graduated from this police academy to date, to include 116 female police.

The first training course at the academy for women started with six students in 2002. Since then the female class has grown each year with 25 women graduating in 2008 and 30 women ready to start the class in 2009.

Farid became the dean at the Erbil Police Academy in February 2008 and was the chief of inspectors for the director of police in Erbil for two years prior.

The training the academy students received from the U.S. is appreciated and the text books are very good for future training, Farid said.

The construction project for the new complex was started a little more than a year ago and was split up into portions of KRG funded and non KRG funded, so the project would be done jointly with a shared contractor. The KRG has paid for 30 percent of the project, thus far.

The Tigiris Company was the contractor, out of Turkey, that built the project and had about 500 people working during the height of construction, said York. Two-thirds of the workers came from the local population, the rest came from Turkey.

"We are working the issue now to get furniture out here," York said. "We've got a commitment out of the KRG for about $750,000 dollars and we're trying to match it with a commitment out of the U.S. We are going to need a little over a million dollars to furnish the place with everything here."

A unique memorial present within the new academy complex is a large bust of 1st Lt. Ashley Henderson Huff, who was killed by an improvised explosive device outside of Mosul, Sept. 19, 2006. Huff was present for the meetings in the beginning that planned and initiated the building of the new complex for the Erbil Police Academy.

"She helped put this project together, so we put a bust out here for her," York said.

The dining facility, which the locals call a restaurant, is a two story facility with the second floor identical to the first floor, said York. There are connected cooking areas on both floors, as well.

Intentionally the KRG placed the facility in the country area outside the city so that it would have room to grow in the future.

Funding for the electricity to run the facility is also an issue that is being discussed for its future use, York said.

The region is developing power plants in Dahuk, Sulyamaniah and Erbil and once they are up and running steady the cities should be self sufficient with power, said York. The villages are still running mostly on generators, duel fuel units and small hydro units that need a combination of diesel and gas to run.

The KRG with the coalition share money expenses in this region, where in the southern areas of Iraq the U.S. covers 100 percent of the expenses for most projects, said Kameran M. Abdulrahman, general director of local administration for the Minister of State for the Interior, KRG. The quality of the construction here is better because the KRG takes more care in the buildings.

Kameran helps design all buildings that the KRG funds and he has his own engineers to advise him.

A building project for the Erbil Intelligence Building, which should be completed in about 15 days, was jointly funded with the U.S. paying $1,100,000 dollars and the KRG paying $1,500,000 dollars, Kameran said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started the job and turned it over to the KRG to finish it. All the engineers conferred with each other during the entire building process and every floor of the building now has a tea and coffee area for all the employee departments.

"I am the supervisor for the construction of all buildings in this region," Kameran said. "We built this building from the beginning to have wire internet, cable TV, phone lines and a fire alarm in every office. We have them built-in all of the Ministry of Interior offices as well."

The paint on the wall in the intelligence building is done in an Italian style, said Kameran. It is good quality, not wallpaper and can be easily cleaned. It is completed by placing two to three layers of base paint then a final layer painted with a special roll for the Italian style wall finish. It is more expensive, but worth it for the better quality.

"All the buildings are based on my interior design," Kameran said. "I make the final decisions."

The KRG and the coalition forces cooperated with each other in the building of the Erbil Police Academy and the Erbil Intelligence Building. The Erbil International Airport facility, however, was 100 percent paid for by the KRG.

"Already we are receiving visitors at the Erbil International Airport from Vienna, Austria and several other countries," said Brig. Gen. Serbest Sedeek, head of airport security, Erbil International Airport. "Once an airline gets permission to fly in the airspace they can fly into this airport by contacting me."

Passengers getting off the airplanes in Erbil, Iraq, can receive a 10-day pass, Serbest said. They must go to the police station, residence office, for an extension on their visa if more than 10 days is necessary.

The new building for the airport is specially built to accommodate the Airbus A380F, the largest passenger airliner ever built, and the runway is capable of handling a space shuttle landing said Nasar Nasar, technical manager, Erbil International Airport. The new airport runway is the widest runway in the world and the fifth longest.

The airport is capable of handling three million passengers in a year and, at maximum capacity, approximately 10,000 people in a 24 hour time period, Nasar said.

There is a security section for passports and visas, as well as, a general security section for the entire airport property, Serbest said. There are also male and female security staff members that work for the safety of the airport.

"I was in Germany and met the director of Border Police there," said Abdulkarim Sultan Sinjari of Sinjar, Iraq, minister of State for the Interior, KRG. "He was ready to cooperate in all things in reference to the airport."

The coalition forces has helped the airports in this region with imagery and some technological aspects that the airports' needed, but none of the building.

"Daily it is increasing, the number of visitors in Kurdistan," said Sinjari.

There is freedom of religion and freedom of political association in this region, Sinjari said. This is why the people are loyal and want to stay.