Construction has started on a $34 million (40 billion Iraqi dinar) residential project in the province of Nineveh, reports AKnews.

The 560 homes will be built on an 82-acre site close to the famed waterfall cascades in northern Mosul, in a joint-effort by Iraqiya and Andalusia Construction Companies.

Nineveh’s Governor, Athil Nujaifi, said the project will be completed by the beginning of 2013.

The companies recently completed the construction of a compound in Hadba, which includes 65 buildings, each containing three flats.

(Source: AKnews)

Bloomberg reports that militants have bombed an Asiacell equipment building near Mosul, damaging the mobile phone operator’s network and knocking out service in some northern areas.

The four attackers, some of whom wore military uniforms, held guns to the heads of security guards late on Thursday and planted four large explosives in a building housing routing and switching equipment, Asiacell chief executive Diar Ahmed said.

“One of [the devices] exploded and caused severe damage to the network. The other three were dismantled,” Ahmed said. “It’s a partial outage in (Nineveh) province but it’s the majority to be honest.”

The centre, located in a normally safe area in a Mosul free trade zone, just 60-70 metres from a police station, serves Nineveh province and parts of neighbouring Dahuk. Work crews hoped to restore service later on Friday.

Ahmed said he suspected the al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) was behind the attack. Mosul is considered an al Qaeda stronghold.

“The ISI has threatened our offices and our employees in Mosul many, many times because we work with the government,” he said.

There were no reported injuries.

(Source: Bloomberg)

AKnews reports that uniformed militants have blown up about 10 machine tools used by Sonangol, Angola’s national oil company, in the province of Nineveh on Thursday.

Sonangol won contracts to develop the al-Najma and al-Qayara oil fields near the provincial capital Mosul in 2009.

The equipment was blown up by IEDs that were placed inside the site, and alhough there were about a dozen Iraqi guards they reportedly did nothing to stop the gunmen, according to police, allegedly because the gunmen threatened them.

Police have detained 10 of the guards for interrogation on suspicion of being involved in the attack.

(Source: AKnews)

Iraqi’s Ministry of Electricity signed a contract on Saturday with French conglomerate Alstom to build a power generation plant in Nineveh province at a cost of approximately $94 million, according to AKnews.

The Ministry said the plant will begin generating by the end of 2012.

Reuters reportst that the deal requires Iraq to pay 10 percent of the cost to Alstom in advance, and 40 percent a year after the start of construction. There were no details on when the rest of the cost would be paid.

(Sources: AKnews, Reuters)

A refinery with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day will be constructed by the Egyptian Qalaa Company in Nineveh province.

In a statement, Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed Shamaa said the Ministry of Oil has contracted Qalaa to establish the refinery which will process the crude oil from the Najma and Gayar fields near Mosul.

Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed Shamaa told Aswat al-Iraq that the refinery will be built in Mosul and will be supplied by crude oil from Najama [Najma] and Qayara [Gayar] oil fields.

According to the contract, the Company has three years to investigate the site and prepare design for the facility.

The contract also makes provisions for the Egyptian firm to open its own petrol stations and benefit from the refinery’s by-products.

The Minister gave no indication of the value of the deal.

(Sources: Aswat al-Iraq, AKnews)

A French company began construction work on Tuesday on a $15 million luxury hotel in Nineveh’s Shallalat area, 10 km north of Mosul, according to AKnews.

The Investment Commission’s media spokesman told the agency that the 200-room hotel will be the first of its kind in the region.

“The implementation of the project comes after the contract was signed between the French firm and Nineveh province more than five months ago,” he said.

Set in 10,000 square meters of grounds, the luxury hotel will boast four restaurants, a permanent exhibition of French heritage, a large swimming pool and outdoor recreation areas.

The French company is to complete the project within 10 months.

(Source: AKnews)

Nineveh Chamber of Commerce has signed a memorandum of understanding with a delegation of German business people for the exchange of expertise, the head of the chamber told AKnews.

Moqbel Ahmed Dabbagh said on Monday that the agreement will see coordination between both sides to increase the booming investment in the Iraqi province.

He said the German delegation chose Nineveh over other regions due to its, “wide trade capacity, its active economy as well as the strength of relations between businessmen from both sides … We chose Nineveh because in addition to its geographical location in northern Iraq it is an active province for trade.”

A spokesman from the German delegation said the agreement will support trade relations with Nineveh which have been established since 2004.

The delegation plans to sign deals in August for tourism and industrial development in Nineveh.

(Source: AKnews)

AKnews reports that the German energy firm MBH has landed a $625 million contract to build five 100-MW power plants in Nineveh province.

The Iraqi electricity ministry announced the deal on Wednesday, saying that the project is expected to be completed in 21 months.

The establishment of the plants is part of the government’s plan to plug national grid shortages – a central gripe in the nationwide wave of public protests earlier this year – which leave some provinces with just eight hours of national power per day.

According to AKnews, the Electricity Ministry spokesman Mosaab al-Muhandis said that the company will be paid in full one year after the completion of the project, while AFP reports that payment will begin one year after commissioning and will be spread over two years.

(Sources: AKnews, AFP)