The Iraqi development road project, ambitions and expected challenges

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[size=52]The Iraqi development road project, ambitions and expected challenges[/size]

[size=45]Translated by / Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A report by the Modern Diplomacy news website discussed the development road project that Iraq intends to achieve to connect the country with a land and railway corridor between the Gulf region in the south and Turkey in the north to reach global markets in cooperation with Turkey, Qatar and the UAE, which culminated in the reception of the Iraqi Prime Minister,[/size]
[size=45]Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his recent visit to Iraq, noting that financial and security challenges and difficulties may stand in the way of the project related to the completion of the Grand Al-Faw Port, as well as three stages to complete the development road, the first ending by 2028, while the last stage ends by 2050.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicates that the development road project, known as the Dry Canal Corridor, which costs $17 billion, includes the construction of a two-lane land road for trucks and railways with an approximate length of 1,200 km extending from Al-Faw port in Basra Governorate to the Turkish border in the north. This road passes through Basra, Diwaniyah, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, and Mosul, forming a land road network linking Baghdad to Ankara.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq had called for two huge projects to consolidate its role as a vital link between Asia and Europe to enhance its geopolitical importance, namely the large Al-Faw port and the Development Road Initiative. Iraq had begun implementing the Al-Faw Port project a decade ago, and the ambitious plan for the project includes a huge cargo container platform, a dry port for goods, crude oil loading docks, as well as a dry loading dock for land transport and a maritime transport platform. If this project is completed, Al-Faw Port may become Among the largest ports in the world.[/size]
[size=45]Despite delays due to financial constraints and other challenges, Baghdad took an important step in 2020 to move forward with the project by signing a contract worth $2.6 billion with the Korean Daewoo Engineering and Construction Company to initiate the first phase of the project, which is scheduled to end within four years. The first phase. It is nearing completion, with plans for the port to enter the operational phase by 2028. As for the second phase of the project, which has not yet begun, it includes an industrial zone with an oil refinery, a steel factory, and other industrial amenities. The third phase will be the establishment of the new city of Al-Faw, which will include a residential and commercial center with schools, civil facilities, and mosques.[/size]
[size=45]The development road project includes a network of transport roads aimed at linking the large port of Al-Faw to Turkey. As planned, the construction of this network of land roads and railways will be completed in three stages. The first stage is planned to be completed by the year 2028, followed by the second stage, to be completed in the year 2033, and the third and final stage, to be completed by the year 2050. Regardless Regarding logistical matters, the project is designed to enhance the aspect of urban development and civil services, with the expectation of establishing new cities and the emergence of industrial, commercial and service centers along the land corridor from Basra in the south to the Turkish border in the north.[/size]
[size=45]Amid the rapprochement between Iraq and Turkey, the Iraqi development road project has received central attention between President Erdogan’s ambition to get closer to energy sources and trade lines and the ambition of Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani to raise Iraq’s strategic position and revive the country’s commercial importance as a connecting point between the East and the West.[/size]
[size=45]During his recent visit to Iraq, President Erdogan stressed Turkey’s pledge to cooperate with Iraq, Qatar and the Emirates to establish the project, saying, “The Turkish government intends to continue to assist Iraq to ensure the completion of the project as quickly as possible so that the region can achieve its economic and development goals.”[/size]
[size=45]However, the report indicates that there are many challenges and unclear aspects surrounding the project itself, as there are concerns regarding the financial feasibility and the government’s ability to secure sufficient cash liquidity within its share of the project and obtain financing from international sources, in addition to Iraq’s known history after 2003 of its weak project management. Huge infrastructure such as this project is hampered by political tensions within a political system built on quotas, favoritism, and party loyalty, in addition to routine bureaucratic procedures that hinder the implementation of long-term projects.[/size]
[size=45]Another potential obstacle to the project is the presence of groups of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters in mountainous areas in the Kurdistan region along the Turkish border, which Ankara calls for their removal because they pose a threat to Turkey's national security, and may constitute a security gap on the project's route from the south to the border with Turkey.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, the upcoming stages bear features of economic and political instability, which will be represented by the intensification of Turkey’s military movements against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party groups in the Kurdistan region during this summer in the hope of removing the threat that these groups pose to Turkey, at a time when Baghdad has not determined the level of its military cooperation with Ankara in In this regard, whether this might stimulate resistance from armed factions loyal to Iran inside Iraq that would stand in the way of Turkey’s security goals and thus expose the development road project to dilemmas that would hinder its implementation.[/size]
[size=45]• From the Modern Diplomacy website[/size]
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