People & Institutions
Ard al-Muheet Company for Import, Export, General Supply, General Transport and Production of Asphalt and Oxidised Asphalt Ltd, and Wahaj al-Thuraya Company for General Investments and Marine Berth Management Ltd
Investment licence of the National Investment Commission, for the project: Rehabilitation, development and operation of berths 10 and 11 at Khor Al-Zubair port.
شركة أرض المحيط للاستيراد والتصدير والتجهيز العام والنقل العام وإنتاج الإسفلت والإسفلت المؤكسد المحدودة المحدودة و شركة وهج الثريا للاستثمارات العامة وإدارة الأرصفة البحرية المحدودة
Legal status
Not charged as of the date of writing
Not charged as of the date of writing. No court case, Integrity Commission or audit-bureau finding, licence withdrawal, sanctions designation or credible press accusation naming either company was found (status as of 5 October 2026).
The licence as listed
The list of licensed projects of the National Investment Commission.
- Licensing body
- National Investment Commission
- Licence number
- 350/2020
- Date of grant
- 2 March 2020
- Sector
- Transport
- Project
- Rehabilitation, development and operation of berths 10 and 11 at Khor Al-Zubair portتأهيل وتطوير وتشغيل الأرصفة (10و 11) في ميناء خور الزبير
- Licensee
- شركة أرض المحيط للاستيراد والتصدير والتجهيز العام والنقل العام وإنتاج الإسفلت والإسفلت المؤكسد المحدودة المحدودة و شركة وهج الثريا للاستثمارات العامة وإدارة الأرصفة البحرية المحدودة (Iraqi)
- Province
- Basra
- Location
- البصرة
- Stated cost
- $54.7 million
- State of the project
- Not reported
Who is behind the licensee
consortium
The owners and managers were not identified in the sources that were read.
What official and press reports say
- Official findings
- None found naming either company. (Rudaw reported in March 2023 that the Prime Minister ordered the cancellation of contracts of private companies at Iraqi ports accused of collecting unapproved fees; that report named no company and referred mainly to Umm Qasr, not Khor al-Zubair.)
- What became of the project
- NIC licence 350/2020 (dated 3 February 2020 in the register) to rehabilitate, develop and operate berths 10 and 11 at Khor al-Zubair port, Basra, cost USD 54,725,000. The register gives no completion figure ('؟') and no obstacle. No report naming either company as operator of the berths was found. Iraq Business News, citing the Prime Minister's Office, reported on 9 February 2026 that Iraq's Industrial Coordination Council approved the use of specialised berths 10 and 11 at Khor al-Zubair to support a sponge iron plant after its rehabilitation; that report does not mention either licensee or the 2020 licence, so the relationship between the two is not established.
- Other contracts with the state
- None found in the sources read.
Sources
- Industrial City Investment Planned in Wassit Province, Iraq Business News (citing the Prime Minister's Office), 9 February 2026 Tier D
The Council approved the use of specialised berths (10 and 11) at Khor Al-Zubair Port to support the operation of a sponge iron plant, in line with the plant's production capacity, following its rehabilitation.
- Iraqi PM orders cancellation of contracts of private companies at ports (article 240320231), Rudaw, 24 March 2023 Tier D
Most of the complaints of corruption are directed towards private companies working at Umm Qasr, Iraq's largest port.