Iraq’s Transport Ministry says it has received $135m from the government towards the construction of the Grand Faw port in Basra in southern Iraq.

The money will be used to build a wave breaker at the site of the new port, which is part of phase one. The Transport Ministry has already begun work to pave access roads around the new port and is also clearing mines that were left over from previous wars.

The port is being designed by a consortium of Italian contractors led by Impregilo and is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2011. The consortium won the contract to design the port in April 2010 (MEED 11:4:10).

Baghdad had earlier objected to Kuwait’s plans to build the $1.1bn Mubarak port just a few kilometres away from Grand Faw on Bubiyan island.

However, the Iraqi Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi now says the Kuwaiti port poses no threat to the projected business opportunities and operations at Grand Faw.

The port is designed to include 7,000 metres of dock for container ships and an additional 3,500 metres of dock for general cargo.  The port will be 17 metres deep, allowing it to receive the world’s largest cargo ships. It will be built in two to three-year phases.

Grand Faw will become the largest port in the northern Gulf when complete and will complement the facilities available at Umm Qasr port, which currently is Iraq’s only deep-sea port.