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Iraq has asked OPEC fellow member Saudi Arabia to help fund its largest housing project in Bismaya near its capital Baghdad, the official Iraqi news agency has said.
The Iraqi National Investment Commission (NIC) made the request during talks on the project with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih in Baghdad at the weekend.
The agency said NIC’s Chairman Haidar Makkia explained project requirements during the talks following a financial rift with Hanwha in 2022, prompting the South Korean company to halt work on the project for nearly three years.
“The Saudi Minister expressed his country’s willingness to support the completion of Bismaya City after an agreement on the funding structure is finalised between the two sides,” it added.
Hanwha, which has built nearly 30,000 units of the 100,000-house Bismaya, agreed to resume work on the project after negotiations with NIC early this year produced an agreement on payment of delayed funds.
Bismaya, with an estimated cost of more than $7 billion, is one of several residential cities planned by Iraq to resolve a post-war housing crisis.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
