Iraq is to invest $13.5 million to improve its ports on the Gulf over the next 12 months, Transport Minister Ahmad Murtada Ahmad said in comments published Thursday, September 6.
Basra port will be expanded, two new quays are to be built in addition to 10 existing ones at Um Qasr, and new equipment purchased to handle imports under the UN oil-for-food scheme, he told the ruling the Baath party daily Ath-Thawra.
Iraq's southern ports were badly damaged during the 1991 Gulf War and repairs have proved difficult under the international embargo in force for 11 years. The bulk of Iraq's imports today transit through Jordan's Red Sea port Aqaba. — (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
