Iraq is building a steel plant in the Southern Dhi Qar governorate at a cost of around 20 billion Iraqi dinars ($17 million), the official Alsabah daily reported on Tuesday.

The plant has an output capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year and will be executed in stages over a period of four years, it said, quoting Mohammed Turki, Chairman of Dhi Qar's Investment Commission.

"We are pushing ahead with this important project, which is designed to face growing domestic steel consumption due to reconstruction projects," he said.

Phase 1 of the project, build on an area of 500,000 square metres, will produce around 105,000 tonnes per year, Turki added without identifying the contractor.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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