Sulaimaniyah:
He is one of the
wealthiest men in Kurdistan, if not the whole of
Iraq, and he has a mission: to open the country to
business.
Faruk Mustafa Rasool, the chairman of mobile phone
company Asiacell, the fastest growing of Iraq's
three main operators, comes across as a modest man
with a modest head office in Sulaimaniyah. But,
there is nothing modest about his ambitions.
Besides the phone company, into which he and
partners such as Kuwaiti telecoms group Wataniya
have ploughed $300 million since 1999, he has deals
for two cement factories, a steel plant and a
28-storey five-star hotel in this booming city. |
Faruk Mustafa Rasool
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He is also thinking
about cultural projects, apartment complexes,
satellite broadcasting, wireless technology and
computer training centres - the sorts of things that
no one associates with the violence tearing Iraq
apart.
However, if it can happen anywhere in Iraq right
now, it can happen in Sulaimaniyah, a city of about
700,000 inhabitants set in the mountains of the
autonomous, northern Kurdish region.
"Investment goes hand-in-hand with security and
political stability, and here in Sulaimaniyah we
have both," said Rasool at his Asiacell
headquarters. "Sulaimaniyah is going to become one
of the most developed cities in the Middle East
within a few years - it will be Iraq's link to the
outside world," he says with quiet confidence, a
thick gold watch on his wrist.
The Kurdish region, which has enjoyed autonomy from
Baghdad since US intervention after the 1991 Gulf
War, has also seen almost none of the insecurity and
violence that has bedevilled the rest of Iraq since
Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003.
For the past two years, it has been carefully laying
the foundations for growth - including the local
government in Sulaimaniyah changing the law to make
all investment tax-free - and now it is starting to
take huge strides forward.
Capital from the Gulf, Turkey, Lebanon and China is
flooding in, while the Kurdish regional government,
local investors and international donors have also
injected funds.
The total is in billions of dollars, according to
Sulaimaniyah's investment projects office, and it
takes only a quick trip around the city to believe
it, with huge construction sites buzzing with
activity in every direction.
At the heart of much of the business is Rasool.
Spotting the vast demand there is going to be for
construction equipment, most of which is imported
now, he says he is investing $200 million in two
cement factories that ultimately will produce six
million tonnes of cement a year. More will be pumped
into iron and steel plants, he says.
"It's about creating the infrastructure, providing
the right basis, for Sulaimaniyah to become a leader
in Iraq's economy, and for the rest of Iraq to
follow when the time is right," he says, although he
dismisses comparisons with Dubai or Beirut, two
other Middle Eastern cities that have seen vast
growth.
"Most of the projects are not oriented towards
profit only," he says, but concedes he has to make
money to stay in business. "I want my name
remembered for laying the foundations."
He might also end up being remembered for another of
his projects - a $60 million plan to build a
towering five-star hotel on a hill in central
Sulaimaniyah, linked to the city centre by a cable
car and with a revolving restaurant on top.
It's a big task load for the diminutive executive,
who started out running a left-wing magazine before
drifting into business. However, he is certain that
the future is bright. "In three or four years time,
you will see. Sulaimaniyah will do great things, and
when it is ready, so will Iraq."
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