South Korean construction company Hanwha has decided to resume work on Iraq’s largest housing project in February after a stoppage of more than three years, the official Iraqi News Agency said on Thursday.

Hanwha’s decision to restart work on the multi-billion Bismaya City near the capital Baghdad followed an agreement with the Construction and Housing Ministry and the National Investment Commission (NIC) to pay the firm all its delayed dues, the agency said, quoting NIC spokesman Muthanna Al-Ghanimi.

“Work on Bismaya project will resume early next month....we have held 33 meetings with the Korean Company to resolve the financial problem,” he added.

Hanwha, which was awarded the Bismaya project more than six years ago, had built nearly 30,000 of the city’s 100,000 houses before it decided to freeze work as arrears accumulated because of Iraq’s cash shortages.

With an estimated cost of around $7 billion, Bismaya will accommodate nearly 600,000 people and is one of several residential cities planned by the OPEC member to tackle a festering post-war housing crisis.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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