Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's Transport Minister Wahab Salman al-Hassani on Monday formally appointed Alaa Abd al-Hassan Ali Obeid as acting director general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq for a three-month term, according to a document reviewed by Shafaq News.

The company oversees the Grand Al-Faw Port project, a centerpiece of Iraq's $17 billion Development Road initiative, an infrastructure corridor to link the Gulf to Europe through Iraqi territory.

The appointment takes effect from the date Obeid assumes duties and remains in force until a permanent replacement is named through the legally prescribed process.

The move formalizes an arrangement already in place since May 31, when al-Hassani relieved then-director general Farhan al-Fartousi and designated Obeid to manage the state-owned company on a caretaker basis pending the outcome of that suspension.

Al-Hassani also dismissed four department heads at the General Company for Maritime Transport, including the directors of insurance and contracts, replacing each with an acting appointee. The minister cited "requirements of work interest" as the basis for the removals.

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