Emaar Properties of Dubai and Kurdish company Faruk Group Holding will soon sign a contract valued at more than $2bn to develop a resort in Iraq's oil-rich Kurdish region in the north, a government official said, according to Bloomberg.
The Dukan tourist city project will be built in Sulaymaniyah near the border with Iran, Herish Muharam Mohamad, chairman of Kurdistan Regional Government's investment board, said in an interview in the regional capital, Erbil.
The resort at the artificial lake Dukan will include hotels, restaurants and residential areas as well as cinemas and casinos, he said.
Emaar , which has the heaviest weighting on Dubai's benchmark stock index, last year signed an agreement with Iraq government officials to develop housing and tourism projects in the country.
Faruk Group Holding comprises 12 companies in businesses including construction, telecommunications, cement, hospitality and retail. It is Iraq's largest private company, with 11,000 employees, according to Faruk's website.
Emaar is bidding for a $5bn housing project in central Iraq, Mohammed Ameen, vice chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission, said in an April 1 interview in Baghdad. Iraq has allocated more than $31bn to address a residential shortage estimated at more than 670,000 homes.
Gulf Times
13 June