BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government on Tuesday approved a major Public-Private Partnership (PPP) deal worth 764 million U.S. dollars for the development and operation of Baghdad International Airport.
According to a statement by the media office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, the Council of Ministers awarded the long-term contract to a global consortium led by Corporacion America Airports (CAAP) -- a Luxembourg-based airport operator managing more than 50 airports worldwide, in partnership with Amwaj International, a leading Iraqi real estate and investment company.
The consortium will fully finance the project with no cost to the government throughout the concession period, the statement said without specifying the concession period. Local media reports said the period is 25 years.
"The CAAP Consortium was selected after presenting the best financial offer, which allocates 43.05 percent of the airport's total annual revenue to the central treasury throughout the concession period," the statement said.
Under the contract, the consortium will build a modern passenger terminal with an initial capacity of 9 million passengers annually, expandable to 15 million in the second phase. It will also rehabilitate runways and aprons, upgrade firefighting capabilities, and create 1,000 new direct jobs for every 1 million additional passengers handled.
The government stressed the level of transparency, noting that the entire tender was overseen by the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, as the government's consultant.
