An Iraqi official said that next Sunday his country will sign an agreement with the South Korean "Daewoo" company to develop the Faw port in Basra Governorate (south of the country), at a total cost of $ 2.62 billion.

The General Director of the General Company for Iraqi Ports, Farhan Al-Fartousi, said in a press conference, on Wednesday, in which he stated that the signing will take place next Sunday in the presence of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.

Al-Fartousi said that the Al-Faw port will be implemented according to the specifications and designs approved by an Italian consulting company, noting that the development process is accompanied by the provision of approximately 15,000 new job opportunities.

Controversial project

The Iraqi official pointed out that "the project includes establishing 90 berths, including 50 berths for containers, 12 for bulk cargo, and another number for oil berths, with a total capacity of 2 million containers annually."

The contract to build the port has been the subject of widespread controversy in Iraq over the past few months, amid speculation of a conflict between political parties in secret to obtain commissions from companies wishing to build the project.

Last week, the leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, called on the Iraqi government to "eradicate corruption and extortion" in the "Faw Grand" port project.

He wrote in a tweet on his Twitter account, "The Iraqi government must work to root out corruption and the clear and evident blackmail in the port project, which the hands of the outside and the inside and the hands of merchants and militias have colluded with, under flimsy pretexts;

pic.twitter.com/Szql4dtRlG

- Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr (@Mu_AlSadr) December 16, 2020

On October 9, the South Korean "Daewoo" company announced the suspension of work on the large Faw port project, in Basra (southern Iraq), after the body of its director was found hanging there, days after the initials of the construction of the port project.

And the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, said last November that the director of "Daewoo" committed suicide after being subjected to pressure and extortion.

It is noteworthy that the cornerstone of the Faw Grand Port project was laid in 2010, and the Iraqi Minister of Transport, Nasser Hussein Al-Shibli, announced the agreement on the final version of the Faw Port Grand Contract with the Korean company implementing the project, whose cost is estimated at $ 4.6 billion.

The Iraqis consider the port one of the most prominent projects, which will provide economic benefit to the country if completed.