Basra Seawater Desalination
Seawater RO, About 1 million m3/day across three parallel lines of 335,000 m3/day each, with 1 million m3 of local storage and a 240 km distribution system in Iraq.
Under construction
The record
- Country
- Iraq
- Location
- Al-Faw Grand Port, Basra
- Coordinates
- 29.901, 48.442
- Technology
- Seawater RO
- Capacity
- About 1 million m3/day across three parallel lines of 335,000 m3/day each, with 1 million m3 of local storage and a 240 km distribution system
- Capital cost
- About US$4 bn estimated project cost (2025); EPC contract about US$2.4 bn (January 2026)
- Stage
- Under construction
- Owner or client
- Basra Governorate
- Contractor
- PowerChina / Al Ridha Group
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- Government
- Award or start year
- 2026
- Commissioned
- —
Record last checked 2026-09-20.
History
- 2025-07
Foundation stone laid by the Prime Minister and contract confirmed with PowerChina, 1 million m3/day with a 300 MW plant
- 2026-01
EPC contract signed, 17.19 billion yuan (about US$2.4 billion)
- 2026-08
US$1.32 billion transmission package let
Sources
14 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- AGBI, Iraq starts work on $4bn seawater desalination plant, 25 July 2025. agbi.com.
- Three parallel desalination lines of 335,000 m3/day each, 12 local storage tanks totalling 1 million m3, nine distribution stations and reservoirs across the governorate, a 240 km pipeline system, a dedicated 300 MW power station, about 3,500 jobs, cost estimated at US$4 billion per Reuters, developed jointly by Baghdad-based Al-Ridha Group and PowerChina.
- Asharq Al-Awsat, Report: PowerChina wins $4 billion contract for Iraqi water desalination plant, 24 July 2025. english.aawsat.com.
- (still online; the link only works with its trailing encoded space) Reporting Reuters, a contract worth around US$4 billion for a plant of 1 million m3/day expected to begin commercial operations in June 2028, plus a 300 MW power plant.
- Commercial operation in June 2028 is recorded as a target rather than a confirmed date.
- Iraq Business News on the foundation stone ceremony, July 2025. TradeArabia, PowerChina snaps up $4bn Iraq desalination project contract, 24 July 2025. tradearabia.com.
- (contract value about US$4 billion, replacing the earlier US$2.42 billion estimate).
- Iraq Business News, Work starts at major seawater desalination project in Basra, 26 July 2025. iraq-businessnews.com.
- and Iraqi Economists Network, Iraq picks PowerChina to build one of the world's largest desalination plants at Al-Faw Port, 2 April 2024. iraqieconomists.net.
- both place the scheme at the Al-Faw Grand Port.
- COORDINATES ARE APPROXIMATE: they are the port itself, from the OpenStreetMap feature ميناء الفاو الكبير at 29.9015 48.4424, not a surveyed plant point.
- The row previously carried 30.51 47.78, which is a residential district of central Basra about 70 km from the coast and cannot be the site of a seawater plant.
- Smart Water Magazine, The sovereign desalination map: why governments are taking back ownership, 29 May 2026. smartwatermagazine.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Contract signature with PowerChina in January 2026, for an EPC contract valued at 17.193 billion yuan (about US$2.4 billion). Budget is the EPC contract value (fact-check decision 5, October 2026); the US$4 billion is the 2025 estimated project cost.