Iraq signs $1 bln water deal with French-Iraq group

BAGHDAD, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Iraq has signed a deal worth more than $1 billion with an unidentified French-Iraqi group to repair eastern Baghdad's water supply system, the Iraqi government said on Monday.

"The government has agreed to award the tender of the Rusafa water project to an Iraqi and French company. The amount exceeds $1 billion and the capacity exceed 910,000 cubic metres per day," the government said in a statement.

The statement did not identify the company, and officials in the Iraqi government and the Baghdad mayor's office declined to name it. The project will take 28 months to complete, the statement said.

France's biggest water and waste groups, Veolia Environnement and Suez Environnement, had no comment.

Baghdad's water infrastructure desperately needs modernising because decades of war and U.N. economic sanctions prevented investment and repairs.

Some parts of Baghdad, especially newer areas in the eastern Rusafa district, have just a trickle of water for a few hours a day.

Baghdad's Mayor, Sabir al-Esawi, visited France last week.

Iraq's government is now flush with cash from oil exports, but it has so far been slow to invest in major infrastructure projects because of insecurity.

The country has become much safer in the past 18 months, and last week signed its first deal with a major Western oil firm since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a multi-billion dollar deal to pipe natural gas from Iraqi oilfields signed with Shell. (Editing by Tim Pearce)