Iraq on Saturday unveiled its ambitious $17 billion road and rail infrastructure project linking Europe, West Asia (Middle East), and Asia, and presented itself as the key regional transportation hub connecting the three continents.
The project, dubbed the “Route of Development”, once completed will link the Grand Faw Port in the oil-rich south of Iraq to the Turkish border in the north.
The country hopes that this rail and road network would draw traffic from the users of Egypt’s Suez Canal and eventually replace it as the key transportation hub.
The announcement was made by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani during a conference with transport ministry representatives from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
“We see this project as a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy, a link that serves Iraq’s neighbours and the region, and a contribution to economic integration efforts,” Sudani said, according to AFP news agency.
The project entails high-speed trains moving both goods and passengers at up to 300km per hour, and reconstructing the country’s road network.
Female Iraqi Kurdish bodybuilder Shylan Kamal breaking down barriers
The Iraqi parliament’s transport committee said that though further discussions are required, other countries are welcome to “to carry out part of the project,” adding that it could be completed in “three to five years”.
“The Route of Development will boost interdependence between the countries of the region,” Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad Ali Riza Guney said, without elaborating on what role his country would play in the project.
According to local media reports, work is already underway on the commercial Grand Faw Port—a new sea port that lies on the northern tip of the Gulf.
The Islamic country hopes that its ambitious project could lift up its infrastructure that has been ravaged by decades of conflict, including the US invasion and subsequent war in 2003, and the fight against the Islamic State group, which seized almost a third of the country before being beaten back by late 2017.
In recent years, Iraq has seen a dip in security measures and direct armed confrontations and bombings, but political confrontation and uncertainty has slowed the reconstruction process.
Baghdad has been looking to revive its transport sector—a key contributor its GDP—and is the latest in other planned international mega-projects, including China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” announced in 2013 by its President Xi Jinping.
(With inputs from agencies)
