ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region’s Duhok city is working on a large state-of-the-art park at its entrance, spanning 600 dunams and a golf course to boost tourism, an official said on Saturday.

“Every feature of this park is distinctive — even the water used in the park is not groundwater, but rather water from a dry riverbed, which after cleaning and filtering is used to beautify the park's atmosphere,” Salah Mohammed, an engineer at the park, told The New Region. 

The park is being built at the city’s southwestern entrance at a cost of 128 billion Iraqi dinars (around $97.7 million), covering 600 dunams of land, and is 25 percent complete. Notably, each dunam is 2,500 square meters. 

The park is set to be home to a modern museum, a water pond, a man-made river, and recreational areas. 

A golf course is also nearing completion, spanning 45 dunams and at a cost of $5 million.

Heval Sadiq, general director of Investment for Duhok, said foreign golf coaches will be brought to train people from the area. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has made increasing efforts in recent years to diversify its revenue sources and make the Region an appealing destination for international businesses. 

Last month, Sasan Awni, the Kurdistan Region’s minister of municipalities and tourism, said there are more than 3,000 tourist sites and facilities in the Kurdistan Region, creating over 20,000 jobs, “80 percent of which are filled by the local workforce.”

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has reiterated the Kurdistan Region’s readiness to support potential domestic and foreign investors in a bid to diversify the economy.