Turkish firm to join Iraqi airport contest

BAGHDAD

A Turkey-based firm is competing to construct Iraq’s planned central airport, according to Bloomberg. The report quoted an Iraqi official who didn’t specify the name, ahead of the official announcement of the bidders next week.

The Iraqi government will announce a list of front-runner contractors that will be asked to present bid for the construction of the $2.5-billion worth new air hub, which will become the largest of the country, Nasser Hussein, director general of Iraq’s civil aviation authority told Bloomberg.

Refusing to give names of the companies, Hussein said they are of “U.S., German, Turkish, Italian and United Arab Emirates origin.”

The airport slated to be built in south of Baghdad, Karbala, will have annual 20-million passenger capacity.

A joint venture between Turkish firms, Makyol and Cengiz, has already won an airport contract in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in March. The venture will construct the third airport of the KRG region.