Unlisted Leedco Engineers has won a $50 million contract for construction of an international airport in Iraq, company and provincial officials said on Monday.

The airport is to be built in Salahuddine Province in northern Iraq as an alternative to Baghdad International Airport, said Jewher Hamad Al-Fahel, the head of the province's investment commission.   

Land is to be handed over to the California-based engineering consulting services company in the next few days, he told Reuters.

Hassan Badrelddine, Leedco's representative in Iraq, said the contract was worth $50 million. The goal is to have the new airport operational within two years, with initial capacity of 2 million passengers a year. Baghdad International Airport handles about 7 million passengers a year.
   
Iraq's Transport Ministry said this month it would invite foreign companies in April to build an international airport in southern Iraq. French airport operator Aeroports de Paris won a $42.5 million contract in November 2009 to work on the plans. - Reuters