OPEC member Iraq is planning to build a large steel plant and an industrial zone in the Southern oil hub of Basra to attract investments as part of a strategy to diversify its oil-reliant economy, the official Iraqi Alsabah newspaper reported on Thursday. 

The plant and the zone are part of many other projects approved by the Basra Investment Commission (BIC), covering steel, petrochemicals, electronics and other industries, the paper said, quoting BIC’s Chairman Alaa Salman. 

Salman said the steel plant would have an output capacity of more than one million tonnes per year while the zone would be spread over 2.5 million sq metres. 

“The planned industrial zone is the first of its kind and would be one of the largest industrial zones in Iraq…it is expected to attract a large number of projects mainly in the manufacturing sector and such projects will create many jobs for Iraqis,” he added. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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