BAGHDAD,— Iraq has signed a $764 million deal to expand Baghdad International Airport, a project awarded to a consortium that includes Luxembourg-based Corporacion America Airports and local real estate firm Amwaj International, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.
According to Amwaj International’s Chief Executive Officer Namir El Akabi, the development will follow a 25-year build-operate-transfer model.
The first phase aims to raise the airport’s passenger capacity to 8.5 million a year through the construction of a new terminal. This phase is expected to be finished within three years.
Built in the 1970s and 1980s, Baghdad International Airport has undergone limited modernization in the decades since, as Iraq endured war and instability, including the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In recent years, however, Iraq’s relative calm and steady oil income have encouraged new infrastructure investment across major cities, fueling a wave of reconstruction.
The press office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that the premier attended Wednesday’s signing ceremony, where the contract was officially awarded to the CAAP Consortium led by Corporacion America Airports.
The deal covers the development, expansion, and long-term operation of Baghdad International Airport.
The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group and the Iraqi government’s technical advisor on the project, spent two years preparing the tender process.
It handled the evaluation of international bids and helped draft the public-private partnership agreement for the airport’s management and modernization.
Planned improvements include a new passenger terminal initially capable of handling nine million travelers annually, expandable to fifteen million over time.
The project also involves refurbishing runways, adding passenger boarding bridges, constructing a new Civil Aviation Authority headquarters, a VIP terminal, and an expanded parking area.
Authorities said the modernization will align with international aviation standards, train existing Iraqi personnel, and create about 1,000 new jobs for each additional one million passengers.
The signing took place between the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation’s Director General of Contracts and Licensing and the consortium’s Middle East Director of Business Development.
(With files from Reuters | Agencies)
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