Great News: Iraq Awards $764 million for Baghdad Airport
The Iraqi government has awarded a $764 million contract to expand Baghdad International Airport to a consortium composed of Corporacion America Airports (based in Luxembourg) and Amwaj International, an Iraqi real-estate firm. (Reuters)
The deal is structured as a 25-year build–operate–transfer (BOT) agreement. Under the first phase, the consortium will add a new terminal and raise the airport’s capacity to 8.5 million passengers, with phase one slated for completion within about three years. (Reuters)
Originally constructed during the 1970s and 1980s, Baghdad’s airport has seen little major development since, owing in large part to decades of conflict, including the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the 1990s Gulf War, and the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
With relative stability returning in recent years, Iraq is now experiencing a construction surge in its major cities, fueled by its oil revenues. To learn more about how Iraq is creating enormous wealth from its oil revenue, watch this video on the blog's YouTube channel.
At the time of reporting, the Prime Minister’s office had not responded to a request for comment. (Reuters)
