LEADING Turkish ceramics manufacturer Kaleseramik has recently signed a deal to manufacture ceramic products to be used in Bismayah New City, the biggest housing project in Iraq.

Located 10 km southeast of Baghdad on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Highway, the $7-billion project spreads over a total area of 1,830 hectares and is planned to comprise a total of 100,000 residential units.

It is being undertaken by Hanwha Engineering and Construction Company and SNP World Networks (exclusive provider to Hanwha for the Bismayah project). The new city will include a shopping mall and a mosque.

Set for completion in 2019, the project is expected to require more than 10 million sq m of ceramics. For the first phase of the project, Kaleseramik will produce 525,000 sq m of floor and wall tiles this year.

Kaleseramik, part of the Kale Group, is a highly preferred provider for major projects in Europe and the Middle East.

Kale Building Products Group foreign markets/Eastern Hemisphere vice-president Musa Tangoren points out that Kaleseramik provides aesthetic and functional solutions comprising high-quality ceramic products for various requirements.

He says: “We rank third in Europe and 12th globally, and we owe our strong position to our 57 years of experience in the industry, focus on cutting-edge technology, quality workforce, and competency in research and development (R&D) activities.

“We’re constantly competing with over 3,000 manufacturers in the global market, and we have ranked in the top 15 for the last 10 years. Some years, we’ve managed to rank in the top five globally with our tile manufacturing capabilities. As a company focusing on constant growth and change, we’ll maintain our leadership in world-class manufacturing and continue to play a part in big projects abroad.”

Kaleseramik, which offers the Çanakkale Seramik and Kalebodur brands, has a production capacity of 66 million sq m per year. It produces 1,900 varieties of floor tiles in 50 different dimensions and 2,200 varieties of wall tiles in 60 different dimensions and it offers approximately 200 new products to its consumers every year.