Iraq to be the next big thing, Dewan Architects head predicts
Barriers to entry will fall and pace of development will outstrip Qatar due to huge demand for housing, social and hard infrastructure, retail and commercial development and leisure facilities
Iraq’s construction market will provide a lifeline for international construction firms as the government scramble to release multi-billion dollar projects that will rival those on Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The prediction, made by executive director for Dewan Architects, Amaar Al Assam, in an interview with The Big Project, is based on huge demand for housing, social and hard infrastructure, retail and commercial development and leisure facilities.
“In theory Iraq has work for the next 50 years. It’s a massive market. There are barriers to entry right now, but in five years time the situation will get better and it will be the prime market in the region along with the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” said Assam, whose company currently has 20 active projects in the country in architecture and urban and social planning and operates five offices.
“Qatar has a huge construction boom now, but it is geographically small. Iraq is a real country with real demands,” he added.
According to recent reports by Bloomberg, the Kurdistan region will require annual investments in the region of $172 million to meet housing needs alone and, speaking at a conference last month, Iraq’s minister of housing and construction, H.E. Mohammed Al Derajy revealed the country plans to double oil production by 2015 to fund the projects.
“With the global marker being in trouble, Iraq represents a market that is almost a life saver for some of these companies,” Assam continued.
“There is a huge line of foreign investors waiting for security to improve and they will jump at the Iraqi market. There are 30 million people, the second biggest oil reserves in the world and it’s a country that needs everything,” he added.
