Iraq has turned over a military airport site to a Chinese company awarded a contract to build a civilian airport, an official was quoted on Wednesday as saying. 

China State Construction Engineering Corporation was awarded the project for the construction of the airport in Nasiriyah, the capital of the Southern Dhi Qar Governorate, in June, Dhi Qar’s Governor Ahmed Al-Khafaji said. 

He was reported by Aliqtisad News and other Iraqi publications as saying that the company is committed to completing the airport on schedule within three years. 

“We have just delivered the project site to the Chinese company so it will begin work on this important project,” Khafaji said. 

In recent statements, Khafaji said the planned airport would cost around $367 million but he did not make clear if the contract is part of an oil-for-projects agreement signed between Baghdad and Beijing in 2019 allowing Chinese firms to execute projects in Iraq in exchange for crude oil. 

Officials said in June that the airport, part of post-war reconstruction plans, would be built at a military base that was destroyed during the war in Iraq. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in June laid the foundation stone for the new airport, which will handle nearly 750,000 passengers per year. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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