I think you need to update your info, this 125,000 is for 2008 ..that is more than four years ago and more people has came back from Iran ( kurdish ) and they are living there for now in addition to the refugees from baghdad and other parts of Iraq... and total region is over 400,000 people for now..
And it's definitely not a village or seem like a village, I never heard a village to have a universtiy!! or a Master health directorate..at least not in Iraq... i think you should have explored some real villages in Kurdistan then you will see the real difference...
as for the road trip ....please / me, my friends, and all the people that i know made it to soran in 2 hours or so...and shaqlawa is for sure less than an hour..I go there every weekend for the past 10 years!! , max it takes you 45 mins, I'm speaking of 30 years living in this country not a dozen time of driving back and forth, perhaps you were driving with truck or something like that then for sure it will take you 3 hours to Soran or more than an hr to Shaqlawa...or driving during heavy rain season which makes driving difficult... or during heavy traffic weekends..rest of the days should be not more than 45 mins to Shaqalawa and 2 hrs or so to Soran...Thank you