Iraq’s long-delayed effort to develop the Grand Faw region
near Basra into a new deep-water port is proceeding. South Korea’s Daewoo
Engineering & Construction Company signed a contract worth $2.625 billion
for the construction of the new port, container terminal, and access channel.
Proposed more than a decade ago, the plan called for the
construction of a second port to expand capacity and relieve some of the
pressures on the strategically located Umm Qsar port in southern Iraq. The
Iraqi government had said it would fund the project, which was expected to cost
more than $3 billion, from oil revenues. Internal problems in Iraq and the
decline in oil prices stalled the plans for the port. Work had begun on the
first of the breakwaters for the port, which was projected to have a capacity
to handle 99 million tons of cargo annually, but the work did not proceed.
Reuters is reporting that the South Korean construction
company will undertake the first phase of the project that will include five
berths and a container yard. The project
is expected to take four years and when completed should have a capacity of
three million containers annually.
Daewoo will also carry out the work to create a new, deeper
channel for the port, according to comments by Iraqi officials reported by
Reuters. The plan for the port called for a deep-water channel to permit the
largest containerships to use the port.
The port had become a point of contention as the
negotiations dragged on with reports that a Chinese company had withdrawn and
the South Korean’s had increased their price for the construction. Iraqi
officials said that the United States was trying to block foreign companies
instead wanting an American company to run the project.
An Italian company did the original feasibility studies
calling for the construction of the new port. Beyond the port facilities, Iraq
developed a broad scheme which also included power and desalination plants,
steelworks, and other factories.