Iraq releases first $111 million payment to Hanwha for Bismayah

Summary

• Iraq's National Investment Commission released $111 million to Korean builder Hanwha for completed Bismayah housing units.
• The payment covers 8,280 finished units after all legal and title documents were filed with Rafidain Bank.
• A second $111 million tranche is still being arranged, with 70,000 units awaiting financing.

The latest

Iraq has released a first payment of $111 million to South Korea's Hanwha for completed units at the Bismayah housing city, the National Investment Commission announced. Commission chief Adel Dakhil al-Yasiri said the transfer order was signed from the commission's account to the company's account at Rafidain Bank through the Central Bank of Iraq, under cabinet decisions governing payment for finished works.

Details

• The payment: The National Investment Commission said it completed the procedures for releasing the first financial tranche of $111 million to Hanwha, the Korean contractor executing the Bismayah residential city project. The commission said the money covers housing units already delivered as finished works rather than future construction stages.
• The mechanism: Commission head Adel Dakhil al-Yasiri said the official letter authorizing the release was signed, moving the sum from the commission's account to the company's account at Rafidain Bank via the Central Bank of Iraq. He said the transfer rests on cabinet decisions covering disbursement for completed works.
• The units covered: The commission said the step followed the issuance and securing of all legal and evidentiary documents for 8,280 completed housing units, which were submitted to Rafidain Bank. Releasing the payment was tied to that paperwork being finalized rather than to a construction milestone alone.
• The buyers: Rafidain Bank will handle lending contracts for beneficiaries in successive batches, ordered by contract priority, according to the commission. That process is to run in parallel with handing over the units and following up on the issuance of their ownership deeds.
• The next tranche: The commission said it is continuing coordination with Rafidain Bank and financing bodies to release a second tranche of the same value, $111 million, in later stages. No date was given for that payment, and the commission described the arrangements as still under way.
• The backlog: Alongside the second tranche, the commission said it is completing the legal and financial arrangements to finance the remaining housing units, numbering 70,000. That figure dwarfs the 8,280 units covered by the payment just released, leaving the bulk of the project's financing unresolved.
• The source: The announcement was carried by the Iraqi News Agency, citing a statement from the National Investment Commission. The statement set out the payment mechanism and unit counts without naming a completion timetable for the remaining units or the handover schedule for those already finished.

Background

Bismayah is a large-scale residential city on the outskirts of Baghdad built by South Korean contractor Hanwha under an agreement supervised by the National Investment Commission, with Rafidain Bank acting as the lending channel for buyers.

Between the lines

The sequencing is the story: payment was unlocked only after title and legal documents for 8,280 units reached Rafidain Bank, and the bank's lending contracts are to follow in priority batches. With 70,000 units still awaiting financing arrangements and the second $111 million tranche only under coordination, the pace of the project now tracks the paperwork and the funding pipeline rather than construction.

What's next

Watch for the release of the second $111 million tranche, the start of Rafidain Bank's lending contracts with beneficiaries, and the first batch of ownership deeds issued for the 8,280 completed units.

Source: Iraqi News Agency (INA), citing the National Investment Commission