- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:15 06:32 12:06 15:10 17:35 18:51
Italian firm had prepared the designs for the port, which will have an annual handling capacity of 99 million tonnes per year. (File picture for illustrative purpose only)
Iraq is considering seeking foreign investors for a multi-billion-dollar Grand Faw project to construct one of the world’s largest ports in the conflict-battered Arab country, Iraq’s transport minister has said.
“The transport ministry is unable to execute the Grand Faw port project, which will have a total cost of nearly six billion dollars. We cannot secure these funds so the ministry is studying awarding the project on an investment basis for execution,” Baqr Jabr Al-Zubeidi told Iraq’s ‘Awan’ news network.
He said some foreign companies have already expressed interest in investing in this project, but did not name them.
The minister also said only part of a breakwater for the project has been completed, adding that there is “a big delay in the execution of that phase of the project.”
Iraqi officials said last year an Italian firm had prepared the designs for the port, which will have an annual handling capacity of 99 million tonnes per year.
The port will have a 39-km container quay and another 2-km berth, besides a container warehouse with an area of more than one million square metres.
Iraq, a key OPEC oil producer, laid the foundation stone for the Faw Port project in the southern port of Basra in April 2012 as it pushed ahead with a drive to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.
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