BASRA, Feb. 9 (AKnews) - A Basra iron and steel company will be given $700m (815.9tr IQD) over the next 15 years by Turkish backers.
After visiting the factories of the General Company for Iron and Steel, a delegation from Turkish company United Brothers, offered the proposal, which will increase production capacity to one million tons per year.
The director of the Kurdish firm, Abbas Hayal, informed AKnews that the deal will cover all the factories of company and will retain all 6,000 factory employees.
He added that Basra's local adminstration is striving to revive the factories through investment or government grants.
The General Company for Iron and Steel in Basra is located in the Khur Zubair district, 45km southwest of Basra, and is regarded as one of the most strategically important companies in the country.
It is also one of the six largest industrial projects in Basra.
The company consists of many branches, including a rolling mill plant and Engineering Services and the Department of Quality Control.
The company was damaged and neglected after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and after the entry of coalition forces into the province it ceased production.
© AK News 2012
