Hanwha E&C's new town project in Bismayah, Iraq, is expected to gain momentum through close consultations with the recently elected Iraqi prime minister and government cabinet.
According to a ministerial meeting presided over by Iraq's new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on May 19, the issue of completing major roads linked to housing construction in the new city of Bismayah was discussed first.
Salah Mohammed Amin, chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission (NIC), attended the meeting and discussed pending issues and suggestions related to the new city of Bismayah before seeking a solution.
As a result, Prime Minister Kadhimi ordered the financing of the new city of Bismayah and the construction of major roads. As a result, some predict that the business progress of the new Bismayah city, which has started to adjust the speed of construction, will improve.
Since early this year, the Iraqi government has been struggling to manage the nation's finances due to the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 and the fall in international oil prices. The prolonged economic deterioration has slowed the progress of state projects ordered by the Iraqi government.
Hanwha E&C controlled the pace of the construction of the new city during the Iraq Civil War (IS crisis) from 2014 to 2017. At that time, Hanwha E&C also conducted a four-year slow-down in consultation with the client and received the entire amount of the outstanding amount with full normalization after the end of the war in 2018.
The new city project in Bismayah, Iraq, is designed to finance the project from NIC, the owner of the project, and Hanwha E&C receives construction payments based on the delivery of the completed construction by block.
Hanwha E&C has been working on the construction of the new city since 2012 and has established a lasting trust relationship with the Iraqi government. Iraq has elected new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on May 7 and formed a new government cabinet to stabilize politically, while Hanwha E&C plans to improve business conditions through close consultations with the new government.
Meanwhile, the new Iraqi city Bismayah project is to build about 100,000 homes and infrastructure near Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, with a total contract value of $10.12 billion. (about 12.4 trillion won)
To date, Hanwha E&C has completed the construction of about 30,000 homes and delivered them to the Iraqi government, with a cumulative collection of $4.22 billion, or about 42 percent of the total construction cost.