Iraqi Kurdistan to set up $400 mln "media city"

By Shamal Aqrawi

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - The Kurdish regional government and a Dubai firm are to build a $400 million (200 million pound) "media city" in Arbil in the hope of luring international media groups to the more stable northern region of Iraq, officials said.

Under the deal to create the Arbil City Media Company, the regional government will have a 60 percent stake and the Dubai sound TV and Cinema Production company 40 percent.

Start-up capital will be $40 million. The company, which will oversee the creation of a complex of television studios, hotels, shops and housing, will then be open to shareholders.

Anwar al-Yasiri, an Iraqi who runs the Dubai company, said his firm and a British company would build the complex in a northern Arbil suburb within two years.

"The philosophy of the government to support such a project is to create job opportunities for the sons of the area and to support and develop the tourism and media city sectors," Civil Society Affairs Minister George Mansour told Reuters.

The project will include a television transmission and re- transmission centre with a capacity for up to 120 stations.

"This project will put the Kurdistan area on the international map when television stations start airing from that area," Yasiri said.

Business costs in the Kurdistan region are significantly lower than in neighbouring regions such as Dubai after the government passed liberal foreign investment laws last year.