Iraq has ended a contract with a US company to build 500 houses because of a delay in project execution, an official was reported on Monday as saying. 

The US Construction Inc. was awarded the project in the Southern-Central Najaf Governorate in 2014 but the contract was terminated in 2019 due to the slow pace of work, said Dirgham Keekoh, Director of the Najaf Investment Commission. 

An appeal by the firm to the Commission’s Chairman allowed it to return to the project in 2019, Keekoh told the Iraqi Shafaq News network. 

“The Company’s manager pledged to finish the project on time…but over the past 7 years, only around 16 percent of the project has been completed…for this reason we decided again to terminate the contract with the US firm,” he said. 

Keekoh said the Commission has decided to offer the project, dubbed “Musallam bin Uqail Complex” to investors to finish it. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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