Shafaq News/ The contractor for the submerged tunnel project began settling essential installations on the first tunnel segment in the Khor Al-Zubair navigation channel, Iraq’s General Company for Ports announced on Monday.

The Company’s Director General, Farhan Al-Fartousi, told Shafaq News that these installations (flotation buoys, survey towers, and GPS devices) are key for accurately mapping the tunnel's path, ensuring precision in execution, pointing out, “This submerged tunnel will enhance cargo transport capacity under the Khor Al-Zubair channel.”

All technical aspects of the project are being “meticulously” studied under the supervision of the company’s engineers and an Italian consultant, given that this is the first project of its kind in the Middle East and requires exact calculations with no margin for error, he continued.

The tunnel is a major component of the Grand Faw Port project in southern Basra, connecting Faw to the Umm Qasr area via an underwater passage.

Earlier today, Iraq’s ports authority also announced that the road linking the Grand Faw Port to Umm Qasr Port is 97% complete, a development expected to improve transportation between the two locations.