US firm to build airport in Iraq

Washington, March 17: An American company has won a tender to build an international airport in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin, Iraqi officials say.

Under the $50-million contract, the California-based Unlisted Leedco Engineers Inc. will construct the airport within a two-year period.

The new airport, with an initial capacity of 2 million passengers a year, is considered as an alternative to Baghdad International Airport.

Baghdad International Airport currently serves more than 7 million passengers a year.

Iraq’s Transport Ministry had earlier announced plans to build an international airport in the country’s south through foreign companies.

French airport operator Aeroports de Paris won a $42.5 million contract in November 2009 to work on the plans.

——–Agencies