This is no more a dream, but a reality that exists now. Irbil’s Dream City is one of the biggest reconstruction projects carried out by private sector.
Just two years ago no one would have thought that this abandoned and desert-like place in Irbil would become such an attractive project. Dream City is a small settlement which holds 1200 houses built on a piece of land with an area of 1,200,000 square meters. The project is located on the edge of Gulan Street of Irbil, just next to the Irbil International Airport. The project has begun from March 2005 and is expected to take more than one year to be completed.
The area of the houses range from 250 square meters to 900 square meters and the houses are sold by 10 to 20 installments, depending on the size of the house. The company building the project is a Kurdish company named al-Sharq el-Awsat (Middle East Company) which is simultaneously building Irbil’s Modern Market, another big and unique reconstruction project in Irbil. In fact, these days Irbil looks like a big construction workshop and wherever you go you would come across a big or small-size project under construction.
After the March 2003 war of Iraq, and the lifting of international sanctions on Iraq and Kurdistan, the country has witnessed an influx of foreign companies and investors. Kurdistan Region, as the safest and most stable part of the country got the lion share of the foreign investment and business involvement. The old methods of construction and architecture gave place to the new ones and projects that would have just seem impossible before that date, are today concrete realities on ground.
In order to further encourage foreign investment in the region, Kurdistan Parliament is considering the issuing of a new investment law that is expected to help attract more foreign investment. Now you can find multi-national companies with luxurious offices in Irbil and the city’s largest hotel Irbil International Hotel is hosting dozens of foreign businessmen and investors.
Some people complain of the high prices of the houses in Dream City saying that only rich people can live there. In their opinion this would enlarge the current gap between the rich and the poor and would deepen the class differences.
"This project would certainly lead to a discrimination against poor people, since there is a wall around Dream city which separates if from other people," says Hawar Ahmad, 26, a university student. "You just see next to this Dream City, Kuran quarter of Irbil which is one of the city's slums."
But Sabir Jabar, known as Abu Mazin, 56, the Sales-Manager of Dream City holds an opposite view arguing that “compared to some affluent quarters of Irbil, our prices are even cheaper. Given that Dream city has all the public services and needs provided for it, the prices are really suitable.” The lowest price in Dream City is $164,000 for a 250 square meters house and the highest one is $700,000 for a 900 square meters house. According to Abu Mazin, the clients are from different strata of society ranging from doctors and engineers to businessmen and governmental officials.
The materials are imported from outside and are of the highest quality, as Abu Mazin told me. All the public services like drinking water, sewerage system, electricity and roads are built by the company and the construction standards are in line with the international ones.
When asked if any concerned governmental ministry supervises the project, Abu Mazin replied “the project is totally run by private sector and it's the clients themselves who will supervise the houses and construction process.” There are schools, supermarket and park inside the Dream City and a lot of area has been allocated for green space. Abu Mazin dismissed rumors that only a special class of people is allowed to buy houses inside Dream City, asserting that “everyone who carries Iraqi citizenship can own property in Dream City.”
Al-Sharq el-Awsat runners have already plans to carry out similar projects in Sulaimaniya and Dohuk, provided the current Dream City of Irbil will make a big success. Abu Mazin even spoke of plans for bigger projects which as he said he doesn't like to reveal them for the time being.
