Shafaq News – Basra

Iraq’s Basra province will inaugurate the first completed section of the Development Road project on Thursday, a source told Shafaq News.

According to the source, the inauguration covers the 63-kilometer stretch connecting Grand Faw Port in Basra to the Safwan International Road at the Iraq–Kuwait border via a submerged tunnel, marking the first operational component of Iraq’s flagship infrastructure project.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani will attend the opening ceremony tomorrow, while Transport Minister Razzaq Muhaybis has already arrived in the province to prepare for the event.

In April 2024, Iraq, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar signed an agreement on the Development Road under the sponsorship of Al-Sudani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The project includes a 1,200-kilometer highway and railway inside Iraq designed to enhance economic integration between East and West, expand trade routes, and streamline the movement of goods. The corridor will run from Grand Faw Port through Karbala, Baghdad, and Mosul to the Faysh Khabur crossing with Turkiye, before linking to Turkish road and rail networks leading to Europe via Mediterranean ports.

The investment package is estimated at $17 billion, including $6.5 billion for the highway and $10.5 billion for the electric railway. Once fully operational, the route is projected to generate about $4 billion annually for Iraq.

Iraq plans to channel 20 percent of Asia–Europe trade through its territory under this project, Al-Sudani announced in September, as he unveiled Iraq Vision 2050 – a national strategy to move the country beyond oil dependence and toward a diversified economy.

Read more: Iraq’s Development Road: Geopolitics, rentierism, and broader connectivity