Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) awarded a Spanish company a contract to conduct a feasibility study of a mega-railway project.

The multi-million dollar deal was signed on Thursday by the region's minister of construction, Dana Abdul-Karim, and Spain's consul-general in Erbil on behalf of the company.

Speaking in a press conference earlier today, the Ministry's Director-General, Akrin Abdullah, said that the first phase of the project stipulates extending an estimated 600km-long railway between the border-crossings of Ibrahim al-Khalil and Parvez Khan, i.e. between Iran and Turkey.

"The railway will link the cities of Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Mosul, and other cities in later stages," he said, "the feasibility study shall be completed within a span of six months."

Abdullah said that the Coronavirus pandemic halted the progress of the project, but a "budget was allocated to it in 2021."

"$2.6 million were disbursed to this study. The Spanish company will directly commence the work after the signing."

In February, 2021, Kurdistan's Ministry of Construction signed an agreement with Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national railway company, to build a railway network.