South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering & Construction has signed a $7.25bn preliminary engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement to build a new town near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Approximately 100,000 homes, along with infrastructure, will be built in the new 1,830-hectare town, just 25 kilometres east of central Baghdad, according to a Hanwha spokesman, who described the deal as the “largest single deal a South Korean construction firm has ever clinched overseas”, AFP news agency reports.

A final contract with Iraq’s National Investment Commission could be signed before the end of the year. Construction is expected to take seven years.

The Korean firm has won a number of major contracts in the region so far this year. The largest came in April, when Hanwha was awarded a $1.05bn contract to build the Yanbu 2 power and water facility in Saudi Arabia (MEED 29:4:11).