International Construction Law Review
NEGOTIATING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS WITH AN IRAQI GOVERNMENT ENTITY
OMAR AL SAADOON1
Senior Counsel with the ADNOC Group of Companies
Stakeholders in global construction industries, can no longer avoid the fact that Iraq is becoming one of the largest if not the largest construction market in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. One only has to marvel at the rapidly expanding real estate, construction, and energy sectors in the Kurdistan region with steadily increasing inflows of foreign direct investment.2 The Iraqi Government has officially stated its intention to allocate $31 billion between 2010 and 2014 to provide additional housing and rehabilitate the country’s degraded infrastructure.3
1 The author is a senior counsel within the ADNOC Group of Companies and executive member of the AIPN (Middle East). He specialises in Iraqi laws relating to construction, foreign investment and energy. The author’s views and interpretation of Iraqi laws as expressed in this article are given in his personal capacity and do not constitute any advice. His views do not represent those of the ADNOC Group nor of the AIPN. The article states present law and practice.
2 Hill International was recently awarded contracts from the Iraqi National Investment Commission worth $1.5 billion to provide project management services relating to the construction of a substantial residential project in Basra, Iraq.
3 See Iraq’s National Development Plan 2010–2014. The Plan envisages approximately 670,000 new units and 112,000 to be upgraded.
Pt 1] Correspondents’ Reports—Iraq
115