Baghdad opens new public market with over 560 shops in Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Baghdad Municipality has converted a former parking lot in Sadr City, in the eastern part of the capital, into a public market featuring more than 560 permanent shops. Municipality spokesman Adel Jundil said the market was built on a parking area behind Sade Street and equipped with water, sewage, parking and firefighting infrastructure. Jundil said the market was created to provide an alternative for traders displaced by the removal of unlicensed street stalls across the city. A separate database was prepared for those affected, and stall owners whose structures were dismantled are being offered space in the new shops, according to the spokesman. Officials said the project is intended to give street vendors a legitimate place to work following the municipality's enforcement campaigns against illegal market structures. The market is designed to function as a regulated commercial area replacing the removed unlicensed setups. No further details on the allocation of shop spaces or the wider rollout of similar markets were immediately available.