PM Al-Sudani foresees job opportunities with Iraq's Development Road

Shafaq News / Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani anticipated on Saturday that the Development Road project would create "numerous job opportunities through industries localized in the regions it passes through."

This statement came during his inaugurating speech at the 50th Arab Labor Conference, hosted in the capital Baghdad from April 27 to May 4.

Al-Sudani emphasized that "youth represent 60% of our society and are the backbone of the labor force," adding, "We have established the Iraq Development Fund with a huge capital to create an investment environment that provides thousands of job opportunities."

He pointed out that "the government is planning for future economic sectors like green economy, digital economy, knowledge economy, and the blue economy, which includes water bodies and rivers."

Al-Sudani further stated, "We endeavor to modernize labor institutions to achieve a quantum leap in performance, legislation, oversight, and occupational safety in line with sustainable development goals."

He highlighted that "integration among Arab countries could provide a labor market that accommodates all who are able to work."

It is noteworthy that the "Development Road" project is a highway and railway extending from Iraq to Turkiye and its ports. The length of the road and railway is 1,200 kilometers within Iraq, primarily aiming to transport goods between Europe and Gulf countries.

The investment budget for the project is approximately $17 billion, with $6.5 billion allocated for the highway and $10.5 billion for the electric railway. It will be completed in three stages, with the first ending in 2028, the second in 2033, and the third in 2050.

The project is expected to provide about 100,000 job opportunities initially and a million job opportunities upon completion.