Shafaq News / The Iraqi Ministry of Transport confirmed on Wednesday that the Korean company, Daewoo, has reduced its financial demands by 150 million dollars for the implementation of Al-Faw port.

The ministry’s spokesman, Faleh Hadi, said in an interview with Shafaq News agency, “the Korean company has reduced its financial demands to implement Al-Faw port project in Basra and build five berths with a depth of 19.8 meters, by one billion and 650 million dollars, after its previous demands reached one billion and 800 million dollars."

Hadi added, "The ministry still believes that this amount is large and that we must refer to the initial agreement signed previously between the two parties, which amounts to two billion and 370 million dollars", adding, "negotiations are ongoing between the two sides to reach an agreement."

The Iraqi Ministry of Transport announced on Thursday that Daewoo had withdrawn its initial agreement to build Al-Faw port in Basra, attributing the reason to the company's demand for additional sums to proceed with the project.

The project witnessed some delay after the technical director of the South Korean company committed suicide.

The Grand port of Al-Faw, located in the Al-Faw Peninsula, south of Basra Governorate, will cost around 4.6 billion euros according to estimates. The planned capacity of the port will be at 99 million tons annually, which makes it one of the largest ports overlooking the Arabian Gulf and the tenth in the world. The foundation stone for this project was laid on April 5, 2010.