Redevelopment of Baghdad Intl. Airport Awarded to CAAP

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Wednesday oversaw the signing ceremony for awarding the redevelopment and expansion project of Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) to the winning consortium, CAAP, led by Corporación América Airports (Luxembourg, Argentina) in partnership with Iraq's Amwaj International.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group served as the government's advisory body for two years, preparing the tender, qualifying top international bidders, and structuring the public-private partnership (PPP) agreement for the airport's development and operation.

According to a previous announcement, CAAP will invest approximately US$764 million in the airport without any government expenditure during the concession term.

The project includes the construction of a new passenger terminal with an initial capacity of 9 million passengers per year, expandable to 15 million in later stages. It also covers the rehabilitation of runways, installation of passenger boarding bridges, construction of a new headquarters for the Civil Aviation Authority, a modern VIP terminal, a new car park, and the complete upgrade of service systems to meet international aviation standards. The project will also include training for Iraqi personnel and the creation of approximately 1,000 new jobs for every additional one million passengers as capacity expands.

The contract award was signed on behalf of Iraq by the Director General of the Contracts and Licensing Department at the Ministry of Transport, and on behalf of the investors by the Middle East Business Development Director of the CAAP consortium.