The NIC chairman confirms that the project of the One Million Housing Units will contribute to solving part of the housing Crisis

NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami Al- Araji announced that 125 companies of various nationalities had submitted offers to implement the project of the One Million Housing Unit all over Iraq within the framework of the National Housing Project providing that 35 companies shall be chosen to implement the whole project.
Dr. Sami, during a celebration organized by the Ministry of Construction and Housing on the occasion of the International Day for Housing, explained that the project of the One Million Housing Unit adopted by NIC within the framework of the National Housing Project shall be implemented on an area of 80 thousand Donum.
NIC Chairman added that the commission shall choose only 35 companies out of 125 with an implementation term of two years, referring that these companies are of local and international origins as of the international ones were American, French, Spanish, Korean in addition to 12 big Turkish companies like (Torkey) well known company.
Dr. Sami also said that the NIC is currently evaluating the applying companies on technical and economic basis before starting the implementation phase, referring that the commission had also informed the investing companies about the importance of cooperation with specialized companies to provide the infrastructure necessary for the projects as electricity, water, sewerage, communication and other important services.

The National Investment Commission is pleased to announce its exceptional opportunity in building many central malls, warehouses and free markets in addition to constructing residential building in Baghdad and some other provinces.
The above mentioned facilities will have high and modern specifications and techniques to keep up with the ongoing progress taking place in the developed countries.
Bellow is the projects table.

Remarks	Area	Location	Type of property	No
Under construction	16 dunam 8 evlek 48m²	Baghdad/ Karkh	Al Mansour Mall	1
8-10 floor residential buildings, most of them allocated to the Ministry of Trade staff	14 dunom 4 evlek 44.72 m²	Baghdad/ Rusafa	Al Mustansiriya Mall	2
Modern mall	9 dunom 11.5 m²	Baghdad/ Karkh	Al Adil Mall	3
Modern mall	10 dunom 15 evlek 65m²	Baghdad/ Rusafa	Al Shaab Mall	4
8-10 floor residential buildings, most of them allocated to the Ministry of Trade staff	9 dunom 22 evlek	Baghdad/ Karkh	Al Amil Mall	5
Modern mall	4 dunom 9 evlek 55.10 m²	Baghdad/ Karkh	Al Salihiya	6
8-10 floor residential buildings, most of them allocated to the Ministry of Trade staff	4 dunom 19 evlek 19.78 m²	Baghdad/ Rusafa	Central warehouse in Zafaraniya	7
Modern mall	5 dunom 3 evlek	Basra	Al Faw central Mall	8
Modern mall	18 evlek 64.38 m²	Basra	Al Zubair Mall	9
Modern mall	3 dunom 18 evlek 54 m²	Basra	Um Al Broom Park	10
Modern mall	1 dunom 17 evlek 36.40 m²	Anbar	Empty land near the branch HQ	11
Modern mall	4 dunom 6 evlek 25 m²	Baghdad	Duty Free Shop	12
Modern mall	3 dunom 60 m²	Najaf	Al Najaf Central Market	13
Modern mall	3 dunom 12 evlek 50 m²	Babylon	Babylon Central Market	14
Modern mall	1 dunom 24 evlek 50 m²	Simawa	A Land in Simawa	15

NIC chairman, Dr. Sami Al- Araji met with Mr. George Christian, German Ambassador to Baghdad on the 17th of October.10 and discussed means of cooperation.
Dr. Sami said during the meeting that Iraq is considered a fertile investment land for the great investment opportunities available in various fields as (Housing, Electricity, Oil, Transport, Tourism and other fields directly touching the Iraqi people life), calling for German companies to participate in the ongoing Investment process and to implement the big investment projects announced by the NIC especially the project of the One Million Housing Unit all over Iraq.
The German Ambassador in his turn confirmed his country’s willingness in entering the Iraqi promising market and creating serious investment partnerships with the Iraqi public and private sectors.

The Department of Real Estate and Engineering – Division of property in Al- Rafidain Bank of Iraq and in cooperation with the National Investment Commission announces the intention to invest the land number 07/14/1877 Mashtal / Waziriya, area of 5000 m ² for the establishment of six residential buildings to the staff of Al Rafidain Bank in addition to services and up to 72 ( Seventy-two) apartments.
Please submit application forms to either the National Investment Commission directly or by e-mail to info@investpromo.gov.iq within a period of thirty days from the date of publishing this announcement.

NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami Al- Araji receives Mr. Valirian Shofaeve , Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Baghdad and discusses the possibilities of economic and Investment cooperation between the two countries on the 14 th of Oct.2010.

NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami Al- Araji receives Mr. Mawrezo Milani, Ambassador of Italy and discusses the possibilities of economic and Investment cooperation between the two countries on the 13 th of Oct.2010.

NIC Chairman, Dr. Sami Al- Araji received in his office Mr. Mira Sehab Mahroof, Ambassador of the Republic of Sri Lanka in Baghdad and discusses available investment opportunities on the 12th of Oct.2010.

NIC participated through a high level delegation in the “Made in USA” exhibition which was held in Doha responding to the invitation forwarded by the organizing side.
Mr. Abdullah Al- Bandar, NIC Advisor and the head of the delegation informed the Media office that the NIC had participated in the exhibition through a high level delegation included Dr. Ikram Abdul Aziz, DG of Economic Dept., Mr. Ahmed Al- Zubaidy, DG of PR, Promotion and Media Dept. in addition to a number of the PICs’ chairmen.
Mr. Abdullah added that the purpose behind this participation is to promote the available investment opportunities and the investment process in Iraq in addition to meeting the Qatari officials to exchange ideas and opinions.
On the sidelines of the exhibition works, the delegation met with Shekh Kalifa bin Jasim, – the head of the board of directors of the chamber of commerce and industry in Qatar , the meeting was also attended by Mr. Jawad Al- Hindawy, Iraqi Ambassador to Qatar. Shekh Kalifa highly welcomed the NIC delegation and reviewed means of economic cooperation between the two countries to reinforce the investment and trade relations and enhance the possibility of creating the business partnerships between Iraqi and Qatari business people when Mr. Abdullah confirmed Iraq willingness to expand means of cooperation on mutual benefits basis.

Dr. Sami R. Al Araji, assured that the real criteria for choosing project investors for the 1 million housing unit in Iraq will be the technical and financial competence. He clarified that all investors will enjoy privileges guaranteed by investment law 13 of 2006.
He mentioned that during a meeting with more than 37 companies interested in participating in executing the 1 million housing unit project, referring that each company should clarify their attitude, and start from the very beginning to work on the organizational side of the project which includes many elements such as developing a study for the basic design of the province regarding the height of the building, number of stories and type of the soil. All this must comply with the engineering aspect and the economic benefit and attention must be paid to the historic criteria and the nature of the area. 5-7 designs and alternatives must be developed for the housing units.
Interested companies must provide all infrastructure services including (water, electricity, sewage and communication) also a primary school with 12 classes and one clinic, police station, civil defense center. He pointed that all additional services such as (entertainment centers, sports centers, malls) will be under direct investment to investors for at least 25 years. NIC will be organizing this type of activities and relevant administrational procedures which links them with the governmental agencies. Investors shall be responsible for post project maintenance according to a previously agreed price. Investment companies can utilize Iraqi workers and local materials provided guarantying standard specifications and quality control.
Dr .Al- Araji warned the companies that there are some important points which NIC cannot tolerate such as quality control for used materials, performance safety, environmental requirements, basic services for citizens and the general view of the complex.

Regarding the financial aspect in funding the project, NIC Chairman declared that we have governmental banks that assures the financial flow and guarantees investor’s capital (Al Rafidain, Al Rasheed, and Trade Bank of Iraq). Organizational procedures for payment will be 25% from the beneficiary, 10% to be given directly to the investor after signing the contract, the rest 15% to be received after procedures and land preparation. The investors shall provide approvals from international and local banks guaranteeing completing the rest of the project, (75%) to be divided into 7 annual payments equally with a yearly interest to be paid by Iraqi banks to investors after completing the project which represent the first payment. The beneficiary can pay directly without interests and have the unit registered in his name and avoid gradual payment which can last from 10 -15 years with interests.

NIC Chairman – Dr. Sami Al- Araji discussed with Dr. Esawy – Deputy Prime Minister the ongoing efforts aiming at drawing the investment map all over the country in addition to identifying the achievement rates of the strategic development projects.
The topics focused on during the meeting were the current and future housing projects and their achievement rates, the projects that shall cover part of the Iraqi low and middle income people housing needs.
NIC Chairman assured that the work of the Investment Commission concentrates at providing Iraqi and foreign investors with the investment opportunities to compete in various economic sectors and support the reconstruction process.