Iraq will invite foreign companies to invest in the construction of the Grant Faw Port in the coming days, to offset the Arab country’s funding shortage, an Iraqi newspaper has reported.
Almada Arabic language daily said Iraq’s transport minister Abdul Hussein Abtan announced the plan during a visit to the Southern Umm Qasr port this week. Abtan said the new investment opportunities would be announced during a conference at Baghdad Airport within the next few days.
The Iraqi government plans for the new port to be fully commissioned within the next two years and contractors will be invited to carry out projects on a post-payment basis or joint operation. The Southern Faw Port will be one of the world’s largest container terminals according to design plans and will eventually have a capacity to handle 99 million tonnes of cargo annually. The port will include a 39km container quay and two km of berths along with a container warehouse and hinterland covering more than one million square metres.
The port is intended to cut sea freight journey times between Asia and Europe, using overland connections through Iraq and Turkey, bypassing the Suez Canal.