Saudi banks have offered to fund a $7 billion Iraqi housing project after it was frozen by South Korea’s Hanwha Company three years ago due to a financial dispute with the Iraqi government, the official Iraqi daily Alsabah reported on Thursday.

Hanwha has already constructed nearly 30,000 of the planned 100,000 houses in Bismaya project near the capital Baghdad before it decided to stop work due to a delay in payment by Baghdad.

Iraq’s cabinet in September approved a new agreement with Hanwha and asked the National Investment Commission (NIC) to secure funds for the project.

“A delegation from NIC met Hanwha representatives in Seoul last week and agreed on the resumption of work after it gave assurances about funding,” the paper said, quoting NIC spokesman Muthanna Al-Ghanimi.

“We are now trying to identify new funding sources locally and externally…some Saudi banks have expressed interest in providing funds along with a number of Iraqi banks and some large foreign investment companies,” he added.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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