Faw Port Companies Exempted from Taxes

Awadi said that financing for the Faw Port project "will be carried out either through deferred payment — in accordance with the infrastructure law, which has yet to be voted on by parliament due to political disputes — or through direct investment by the private sector.”

Iraqi parliament member Alia Nassif told Al-Monitor, “The Iraqi parliament demanded that the transportation minister appropriate the funds allocated for constructing the Faw Port,” and noted, “The transportation minister asserted that all of the funds hadn’t been received, but only those allocated for the basic foundation.”

Nassif added, “Some time ago, Transportation Minister Hadi al-Amiri came to parliament and said that the foundation stone for the port had been laid, and that he was waiting for the money allocated by the government to the port. Amiri noted that the government had already allocated the necessary funds, but that a large amount of the money was returned to the state state treasury after the funds were not spent.”

Nassif confirmed, “The port’s construction is taking place with great reluctance,” and added, “We fear that this project will be [further] postponed, after we were told that great stages of work were completed on the port.”

Nassif, who frequently criticizes what she considers to be “Kuwait's expansionist ambitions,” said, “The Faw Port is of great importance.” She added, “Kuwait’s Mubarak Port was completed, whereas the Faw Port is still under completion and the progress [on construction] is not at the required level. Although the transportation minister agreed with neighboring countries to build a dry Iraqi canal and activate plans for the railway, the construction phases of the Faw Port experienced long delays.”

Yet Anmar al-Safi, the spokesman for the General Company for Ports of Iraq, told Al-Monitor, “Archirodon completed construction of the eastern breakwater at the port and is working on completing the staging pier.”

He added, "We have set a lot of conditions on the companies bidding to build the breakwater, including the condition of having constructed a breakwater within the past 10 years, as well as some financial commitments.”

Safi said, “The Grand Faw Port is one of the most important projects being supervised by the Transportation Ministry.” He noted, “The project has faced many obstacles due to the construction of Kuwait’s Mubarak Port and because the project is linked to the interests of influential figures and countries which have prevented progress on construction.”

Omar al-Shaher is a contributor to Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. His writing has appeared in publications including France’s Le Monde, Iraq's Alesbuyia, Egypt’s Al-Ahaly and the Elaph website. He previously covered political and security affairs for Iraq's Al-Mada newspaper.

(Picture: Cargo at Umm Qasr)