By ashleykaren
Iraq launched a $17 billion project to connect a central commodities port on its southern coast by rail and roads to the border with Turkey.
The Development Road intends to connect the Grand Faw Port in Iraq’s oil-rich south, located close to the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab River on the Persian Gulf, to Turkey, turning the country into a transit hub by cutting travel time between Asia and Europe in a proposal to rival the Suez Canal.
Farhan al-Fartousi, director general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, claimed: “The Development Road is not just a road to move goods or passengers. This road opens the door to the development of vast areas of Iraq”.
Iraq’s government expects high-speed trains moving goods and passengers at up to 300 kilometers per hour, ties to local industry hubs and an energy component that could contain oil and gas pipelines.
It would mark a substantial leave from the country’s current aged transport network.
Presently, Iraq’s train service runs a handful of lines, comprising slow oil freight and a single overnight passenger train that trundles from Baghdad to Basra, taking 10 to 12 hours to travel 500 kilometers.
Fartousi revealed that the Grand Faw Port was planned over a decade ago and is now halfway to completion.
Passenger transport between Iraq and Europe goes back to grand programs at the turn of the 20th century to make a Baghdad to Berlin Express.
Mentioning programs to ferry tourists and pilgrims to Shiite holy sites in Iraq and Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage, Fartousi remarked: “We will make this line active again and tie it to other countries”.
The scheme was revealed at a conference that strived at courting Arab interests, containing from Persian Gulf states, Syria and Jordan. A senior government deputy stated that regional investment was on the table.
Commitments to development are long-standing in Iraq, however, infrastructure remains decrepit even as the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani makes a motivation to reconstruct roads and bridges.
Though, officials claim that the Development Road is based on something new: a period of relative stability since late last year that they hope can be maintained.
Fartousi believes if work begins in early 2024, the project would be finished in 2029.
He pointed out: “Even if Iraq was absent for a year or two or a decade or two, it must return one day or another. Hopefully, these days are the beginning of the return of Iraq”.
