Shafaq News- Najaf

Authorities in Iraq’s Najaf province have officially canceled plans for the Al-Uwayqilah border crossing with Saudi Arabia and replaced it with the Al-Hakim border crossing project.

Shahid Al-Aridhi, adviser to the Najaf governor for industrial affairs, told Shafaq News on Monday that a committee had been formed to inspect the proposed crossing site and the road leading to it alongside relevant government agencies to assess implementation requirements.

The new crossing route lies about 78 kilometers from the previously proposed Al-Uwayqilah site and is located closer to Najaf city at the end of Iraq’s overland Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage) route, giving the project, according to the official, “strategic commercial importance.”

The Al-Hakim crossing and adjacent free trade zone have been awarded to the Iraq-based Alrida Holding for Investment, which will also construct the crossing’s infrastructure and the connecting road network. About 227 kilometers of the Hajj road have already been paved, while another 212 kilometers remain under construction.

Iraqi authorities are awaiting official approval from Saudi Arabia before completing procedures to open and operate the crossing.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia currently share two land crossings: the Arar crossing in western Iraq, reopened in 2020 after nearly three decades of closure, and the Al-Jamima crossing in southern Al-Muthanna province, historically used as a major Hajj route for pilgrims traveling through Iraq to Saudi Arabia.