A Turkish firm has won the contract for the $88 million (105 billion Iraqi dinar) Grand Kut water project, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

Sobeih Lafta, the assistant governor for technical affairs in Wassit, told the news agency that the project is intended to end water scarcity in the city.

The project, with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters/hour, is on a site of 118 donums (30 hectares) in the Umm Heleil area at the northern entrance to al-Kut city and overlooking the River Tigris.

He added that the project, which should be finalized in 540 days, involves the installation of three backup stations, sedimentation basins, a pumping station and the extension of lines and pipeline networks for the city.

The project had been taken away from a now-blacklisted company before in 2005 at a cost of ID70 billion for failing to observe deadlines.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)