Hanwha Engineering & Construction (E&C) is receiving favorable response from Iraqis moving into its new urban residential complex near Baghdad, which is still under construction, company officials said.
The $10-billion construction project, which began in 2012, has been progressing smoothly as scheduled, according to the officials, who said the company will complete the construction of the residential town by 2019.
"With the Bismayah new city beginning to take shape, some Iraqis have started moving into the area," a Hanwha E&C official said. "We are getting overwhelmingly positive response from the residents for apartments, schools, hospitals and other urban infrastructure we have built. Everything has been moving smoothly as planned."
The National Housing Program in Bismayah is the first and the biggest city development project throughout the history of Iraq. It is located 10km south east of Baghdad on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Highway, spread on a total area of 1,830 Hectare area and is planned to accommodate around 600,000 occupants in a total of 100,000 residential units. Also the infra-network such as electricity, water supply, and streets will be constructed. As well as the infra-network, the Government of Iraq will develop the public facilities such as education, religious, welfare, and commercial facilities as well as infra-structure such as Water and Sewage Treatment plants. Bismayah New City will fill the lives of 600,000 citizens of Baghdad with happiness and be the most outstanding world class city beyond Iraq and Middle East as the first project of the National Housing Program.
In 2012, Hanwha won an $8 billion contract to build 100,000 houses and other urban infrastructure in Bismayah,. The builder won an additional $2 billion deal in September 2015 to construct schools, hospitals, police stations, fire stations and other urban facilities in the city.
The company has so far received $3.07 billion from the Iraqi government as the project is about 32 percent complete.
"Over the years, we have gained extensive knowhow and expertise from creating a number of new residential complexes in Korea. We are mobilizing what we have learned to design and construct the Bismayah new city," the official said. "The urban complex will greatly improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
Using the Bismayah project as a spring board, Hanwha plans to win more deals in the Middle East and the Southeast Asia.
In March last year, a consortium the builder set up with Daewoo E&C signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia to build a new residential city, twice as large as Bundang, south of Seoul.
Korea Times
20 June
