Negotiations are now ongoing between UK-based Copperchase and the shortlisted contractors for the redevelopment work at the Karbala International airport in Iraq.

 The shortlisted contractors for the multiple packages of the airport scheme are:

• Thales (France)
• Basil Read (South Africa)
• Am-Tech (UAE)
• Slipform Middle East (UAE)

UAE’s Am-Tech is the main prequalified contractor for the passenger terminal building. France’s Thales is likely to be appointed for the airport’s air traffic control (ATC) equipment and air navigation system.

Other packages under negotiation include airside works, which include aprons, taxiways and a runway.

Copperchase and its local partners are executing other works such as plants installation, workshop building, earthworks, roads and landscaping, according to according to Nahidh Salih, chairman and director of the firm’s Middle East projects division.

Iraq’s Manhal al-Haboubi Consultants is providing consultancy for the scheme. It is supported by UK’s Mott MacDonald and John Knapton and Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

The passenger terminal building along with the ATC and airfield work packages comprise the initial phase of the project that is expected to cost between $250m and $500m. Funds will be supplied by the finance arm of Iraq’s Imam Hussein Shrine Foundation.

Construction work on the airport project is expected to start on 1 July and will take between 18 to 24 months. Piling works for the ATC tower started on 10 May. It is being executed by UAE’s Middle East Foundations Group.

The new airport will facilitate travel for millions of Shiite Muslims who travel to Karbala and Najaf, which they consider holy cities, every year. Most pilgrims are understood to come from Iran, Pakistan, India, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and European countries.