Reconstruction of Altun Kupri bridge linking Kirkuk-Erbil roads is ongoing

Kirkuk, reconstruction of the destroyed Altun Kupri (Prde) bridge linking Kirkuk and Erbil main roads, 2020. Photo: The reconstructing company

Soran Mohammed- Kirkuk

The Iraqi government has kicked off the reconstruction of the collapsed Altun Kupru bridge, which connects Kirkuk and Erbil roads together. The Bridge is supposed to be renovated in a year and two months.

The Iraqi government has allocated 700 million Iraqi Dinars (IQD) for the reconstruction of the bridge, which was blown up on October 16, 2017, when clashes erupted between the Iraqi and the Kurdish forces.

Abdulmutalib Najmadin, the commissioner of Altun Kupri sub-district, stated, “the allocated budget for the rebuilding of the bridge is nearly 700 million IQD and it is supposed to be reconstructed in a year and two months.”

The budget has been allocated from the funds provided for the reconstructions of the liberated areas in the war of terrorism.

A local company is reconstructing the bridge.

prd

The destroyed Altun Kupri bridge links Kirkuk and Erbil main roads, 2019. Atila Agha 

Najmadin added that the company has been working on it for nearly two months, and “the reconstruction project is going well, seemingly it would be renovated before the due date.”

The bridge would be reconstrued on its old structure, he explained.

It, which was built in 1984, has a width of eight meters and a length of 128 meters.

Rakan Al Jabouri, the acting governor of Kirkuk, issued a statement last year, in which he mentioned that reconstruction of the bridge would take 240 days.

The bridge is built over the Little Zab river and was blown up on October 16, 2017 when clashes erupted between the Iraqi and the Kurdish forces.

Since then, a temporary “iron bridge” is installed on one side of the bridge and its full renovation would significantly facilitate traffics between the two cities.

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