Faw Port negotiations next week – minister

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Next week will see the beginning of negotiations with Italian companies on the implementation of the grand port of al-Faw in Basra province, according to Iraqi Transport Minister Amer Abduljabbar on Saunday. “The negotiations will tackle the initial and final designs as well as supervision in cooperation with the ministry’s projects implementation company,” Abduljabbar told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The project, whose capital is 2.8 billion Euros, is expected to be the largest port in the region at a capacity of 48 million tons annually during the first stage,” the minister added. On Thursday (April 16), the ministry said that the project of al-Faw Port would represent a landmark that would change the course of the Iraqi economy. “This port is a strategic project that will bring about this change,” according to a ministry release. “The strategic position of Iraq will make it the short-cut route to transport goods between the northern and southern parts of the world,” it added. The Shiite province of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has five commercial ports and two oil ports: al-Maaqal, established in 1916 by the British forces and handed over to Iraqi authorities in 1937; and Faw, a small port on the al-Faw Peninsula near the Shatt al-Arab waterway and the Persian Gulf. In the early 1970s, Umm al-Qasr port was built, and in 1974, Khour al-Zubeir and Abu Fallous ports were established on the Shatt al-Arab. Basra is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. The city played an important role in early Islamic history. The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city’s oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname “The Venice of the Middle East” at least at high tide. AmR (S)/SR 1