Chinese Construction Firms Begin Work on $2 Billion New City in Iraq

(Bloomberg) — Iraq broke ground Wednesday on a $2 billion project to build a residential city outside of Baghdad, with two Chinese firms starting construction on 30,000 housing units.

The project is part of plan to construct five cities across Iraq. Four more are expected to be awarded soon and another 10 will be announced next year. Contracts were awarded to East China Engineering Science and Technology Co. Ltd. and China National Chemical Engineering Co. Ltd., along with their Iraqi partner Shams Al-Binaa. Other new cities to be constructed are in Kerbala, Anbar, Nineveh and Babel provinces.