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Iraq has received bids from four Egyptian companies to undertake a project to build an administrative capital in Baghdad similar to the one in Cairo, an Iraqi official has said.
The Construction and Housing Ministry is studying those offers but no decision has been reached yet, said Hamid Abed, Director of the Town Department at the Ministry.
“Four Egyptian companies have made offers to execute the administrative capital projects…they include companies undertaking city projects in Iraq as well as similar projects in Cairo,” Abed told the official Iraqi daily Alsabah.
He did not identify those companies but said the Ministry has been meeting their representatives to choose the best offer.
Officials said in late 2024 Iraq will soon unveil details of the project to build a new administrative capital in Baghdad to house all its government offices.
Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani will lay the ground stone for the project, which will be executed over the next few years, they said.
‘Al-Rafeel City,’ with an area of 265 square kilometres, would accommodate nearly 75,000 people and comprise houses, government offices as well as commercial, education, health and amusement facilities.
Last year, Egypt’s ORA Developers was awarded the main contract for a new mega residential city ‘Ali Al-Wardi, located in the southeast of Baghdad.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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