Intense rainfall over the past month has had visible consequences on the infrastructure in Sulaimani province, including the Zarzi Bridge. This critical link between Kirkuk and the Dukan Dam has been out of charge for nearly two weeks due to adverse weather conditions.
"The Zarzi Bridge serves as a vital pathway for people from Kirkuk and other Iraqi cities to access Sulaimani’s towns of Ranya, Koya, and the Qaladze district," Bakr Sadiq, a resident, told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar on Friday.
The collapse of a bridge connecting 12 villages to Sulaimani province's Piramagrun and Bazyan has worsened the already harsh route students have to take to reach their schools.
“The collapse of the bridge has severely impacted our students, the villagers, and patients. Previously, reaching the hospital would take us only half an hour with patients, but now it takes around an hour and 15 minutes,” lamented Shaduman Abdul Ghaffar, another resident.
Mohammed Jalil, the head of Sulaimani's roads directorate, stated that despite their efforts to secure funds for repairs, approval to allocate the necessary budget has not been granted.
"Approval has not been given to spend the funds allocated for the flood emergency, while we have written a letter [about this issue] since October and we hope to get approval soon and get some use out of it," Jalil said.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the roads directorate requires over three billion Iraqi dinars (over $2 million) to restore the bridges and roads damaged by the recent rains and floods in Sulaimani province.
The Kurdistan Region experienced a wave of deadly and destructive floods in late 2021 and early 2022, with the capital Erbil bearing the brunt of the heavy rainstorms. At least 826 families were affected by the floods, which killed twelve people, including a ten-month-old baby.
The Ministry of Municipality and Tourism at the time assessed the cost of damages caused by the second flood as more than 21 billion dinars (over $14 million).
