Hanwha Group, a major South Korean conglomerate, said Thursday it will soon sign
a US$8 billion contract to build a housing complex near Iraq's capital
city.
Hanwha said Iraq's cabinet approved the plan to build 100,000
new homes in Besmaya, a sprawling suburb located about 10 kilometers southeast
of Baghdad. The region to be developed covers 1,830 hectares of land with the
project to be completed in seven years.
A formal contract will be
signed soon, with group chairman Kim Seung-youn to take part in the event, the
group said.
The deal, once finalized, would be equivalent to 10
percent of the $70 billion overseas building contract target South Korea set for
this year.
Hanwha said Besmaya would be a design build project, with
the developer in charge of all aspects of construction.
Six types of
homes would be built with floor spaces ranging from 100 square meters to 140
square meters, the company said.