Iraq appears to have dropped proposals to offer its Faw Port contract to investors and decided to fund the giant projects from its oil export revenue following an increase in crude prices, local newspapers reported on Monday. 
 
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi revealed the funding plan when he laid the foundation stone for the much-delayed project in Southern Iraq on Sunday. 
 
Kadhimi said he would personally follow progress in the multi-billion-dollar project to ensure it would be completed without delay after it was repeatedly suspended over the past decade due to weak oil prices and persistent internal hostilities. 
 
The official daily Alsabah quoted Kadhimi as saying during the event on Sunday:” A lot of people have hoped the project will fail and have spread rumors in this respect…but here we are officially launching the project after we completed all stages of planning and negotiations….as for funding, we will finance the project from this year’s state budget.” 
 
Newspapers quoted the Transport Ministry as saying in a statement that the Port project comprises five main contracts including five large container berths, construction of the main container handling area, digging two external and internal canals, construction of a tunnel to the nearby Khor Zubair and the construction of a motorway between Faw and Umm Qasr Port. 
 
The statement said South Korea’s Daewoo E&C, which was awarded a $2.7 billion contract three years ago for the construction of breakwaters and other facilities, began field survey works on Sunday just after Kadhimi laid the ground stone. 
 
The statement said the container berths would be around 1,750 metres long each while the internal tunnel would stretch at least 10 kilometres under water. 
 
“This is a major strategic project that will be the lifeline of Iraq as it will link the country with Europe via Turkey and Syria through the planned dry canal…it will have the capacity to handle 99 million tonnes of cargo according to designs carried out by the Italian company Technital,” it said. 
 
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Read our full disclaimer policy here.

© ZAWYA 2021