Italy's Trevi wins Iraq dam contract

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Italy’s Trevi wins Iraq dam contract

Italy’s Trevi Group has won a bid to make urgent repairs to Iraq’s Mosul hydro-electric dam, close to territory held by Islamic State (IS) militants, and expects to sign a contract in coming weeks, the Italian foreign minister said on Tuesday.

The 3.6-km-long dam has suffered from structural flaws since its construction in the 1980s, and any collapse would unleash a wall of water down the heavily populated Tigris River valley.

Italian forces will be deployed to protect the work site for the dam, whose deterioration has forced the US military to draft a contingency plan for its potential failure.

“Trevi has won the bid” for the work on the dam, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told reporters at a news conference held jointly with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome.

Gentiloni said the contract would be signed within days. Trevi Group CEO Stefano Trevisani later said in a statement that it was “difficult to forecast the timing, but it should be a matter of weeks”.

The Iraqi cabinet met on Tuesday and decided to award the maintenance contract to Trevi, the company said in a statement. The job is expected to take 18 months.

Italy has so far declined to join bombing raids against Islamic State in Syria, but last month Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would deploy 450 troops to protect workers at the dam, which is just up the road from IS-held Mosul.

“We have been in contact with Baghdad for many weeks, and the Italian forces will be deployed to defend the work site in agreement with the coalition,” Gentiloni said after a meeting with officials from more than 20 countries who have agreed to fight Islamic State together.

Islamic State seized the Mosul dam in August 2014, raising fears they might blow it up and send a huge wave onto Mosul and Baghdad that could kill hundreds of thousands.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters recaptured the dam two weeks later with the help of U.S.-led coalition air strikes and Iraqi government forces.

Islamic State has created a self-proclaimed “caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq, and has spread into parts of some other countries, notably Libya.

Source: Trade Arabia

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.