Print
PDF
Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation has been awarded a US$110 million contract to construct port facilities in the Republic of Iraq by the General Company for Ports. The work will focus on port rehabilitation in the country’s southern region of Basra, and is being funded through loans provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The project will be undertaken by Mitsubishi working in partnership with various contractors, including the Turkish firms, Calik Enerji and Gap Insaat, both part of the Calik Holding group. These two sister companies will play a major role in executing construction work, while Mitsubishi will be responsible for overall project coordination and facilitating the import of steel structures and other necessary supplies from Japan.
The objective of the project is to modernise existing port facilities around Basra, particularly by expanding the oil products berth at Khor Al-Zubair Port, and building a new service berth for support ships and service boats at Umm Qasr port.
The rehabilitation of ports throughout Iraq is essential to meet the increasing demands being placed on port infrastructure, as the volume of trade flowing in and out of the country grows. Rehabilitating this critical infrastructure will also contribute to further stabilising the country’s economy as post-war reconstruction continues.
This project is considered particularly noteworthy as Khor Al-Zubair and Umm Qasr are the only ports currently in operation in the Basra region, where a system of ports located in the 48 km wide tip of the country, wedged in between Iran and Kuwait along the Persian Gulf, gives Iraq its only outlet to the sea.
