Metro lights

Metro lights

Economical  02/22/2024
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Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi


The streets of the capital, Baghdad, with its nine million people, suffer from severe congestion, due to the increasing number of cars moving in those streets, congestion that sometimes makes you feel as if you are losing oxygen!! In Baghdad alone, there are about 3 million cars, of various sizes, shapes and models, out of more than 7 million cars throughout Iraq, and it is certain that this number increases during the day, as a result of movement from the provinces to Baghdad, for commercial, health, tourism, scientific and practical reasons...etc.
There is no doubt that this stark increase in the number of cars entering Iraq clearly reflects a noticeable improvement in the living conditions of the population, so the majority of them are now able to own a car, with the presence of extensive bank facilities and loans, which have facilitated the possibility of purchasing a car, especially for state employees. This is evident in the fact that the yards and garages of government institutions are filled with large numbers of cars belonging to their employees.
As the state of congestion intensified, the government took the initiative to implement a large number of bridges and tunnels throughout the capital, to dismantle this congestion as much as possible. However, in the long term, the scene appears frightening if the situation continues as it is, and the number of cars continues to double every year. A few years!!
There is a question here: Why do we not see a state of suffocation in other capitals that are similar to or higher in population than Baghdad? The answer does not require much thought, as Baghdad lacks public transportation, while other capitals have advanced networks in this field, in various types of transportation.
Let us take, for example, the South Korean capital, Seoul, which represents a pioneering experiment in relying on public transportation. The visitor to that capital clearly sees the colors of the buses, blue, yellow, green, red, and night buses, and each color has specific routes in the streets, in addition to the metro, And taxis, and this makes people no longer able to use private cars, because traveling by public transportation is faster, cheaper, and safer. You reach the farthest point you want to reach in just a few minutes, and at a very low cost.
But how likely is public transportation to appear in the capital, Baghdad?
I believe that this is possible, but it requires a period of time to gradually get rid of the culture of (prestige) private cars, and travel via the metro or public transport buses, and from here comes the Baghdad Metro project, as the first strategic project that will contribute to significantly alleviating the state of traffic congestion in the city. The capital, and what is beautiful about the future metro, is that it will be a completely investment project, with no conflicts hindering its implementation, because its routes will be in the forbidden streets, meaning that the project will not need land expropriation, which has often formed an obstacle to many projects... and the Baghdadis will wait. With the passion to complete this project, so that Baghdad can enjoy the elegance of the metro, which will represent an important service and development addition, as its routes will cover more than 85% of the capital’s area, and it will also contribute to transporting a third of the capital’s population, meaning about 3 million people who can travel daily in the Baghdadi metro, and we can imagine the size of the metro. The job opportunities that the project will provide, and the economic and development movement that will be achieved from it, especially if it is integrated with the road network that the capital will witness, especially the ring road that will bring to mind round Baghdad.

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