A promising project to connect Asia with Europe overland. Baghdad hosts the conference of the new development road project and these are its details

Baghdad - Baghdad hosted on Saturday the Development Road Conference organized by the Iraqi government, and a statement issued by the media office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said that the conference witnessed the participation of 10 countries: Iraq and the ministers of transport in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman, in addition to representatives of the European Union and the World Bank.

In a speech at the opening of the conference, Al-Sudani said, "We see in this sustainable project a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy and a link node that serves Iraq's neighbors and the region, and a contribution to bringing economic integration efforts."

Iraq is counting on the development road – or what is known locally as the "dry channel" – to link Asian and European markets through the large port of Faw in Basra province (south) and then the dry canal, which starts from the port in the south and ends with the Iraqi-Turkish border in the north.

Project Details

The development road in Iraq is one of the most important strategic projects in the country, as the Prime Minister's Advisor for Transport Nasser Saleh Al-Asadi confirmed that it will provide 100,13 jobs as a first stage, and one million opportunities after its completion and completion, and pointed out that the project will include railway lines for express trains and highways, and will pass through <> Iraqi provinces.

Al-Asadi said – in a statement to the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) – that the development road project is the new nerve of the Iraqi economy, indicating that the project will include new ports and industrial and residential cities, in addition to airports, and that its implementation will be towards the desert with the aim of reclamation of land for agriculture, industry and trade, according to him.

The spokesman for the Iraqi government on behalf of Al-Awadi pointed out – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – that the basic strategic line will be the railway road with a length of 1175 kilometers, in addition to the land road with a length of 1190 kilometers, indicating that the two roads will have two different paths in the south of the country, but they will meet in the north of Karbala province (south of Baghdad), and then the two roads will go hand in hand until they reach the area of Fishkhabur near the Iraqi-Syrian-Turkish border.

The conference was held in Baghdad with the participation of neighboring countries along with representatives of the European Union and the World Bank (Anatolia).

Regarding the mission of the new road, Al-Awadi explained that it is summarized in transporting goods of all kinds from Europe to Turkey through Iraq and to the Gulf in the south, while the road will transport Gulf goods and resources from the Gulf countries through Iraq to both Turkey and Europe, indicating that the land road will witness the crossing of thousands of trucks coming from 25 countries, as he put it.

He also pointed out that the Iraqi government will ensure that all infrastructure related to Iraq is "sovereign", and that his country will preserve all areas that are considered sovereign so that this road remains Iraqi, according to him. He concluded that the completion period of the project will begin in 2024 and end in 2028, with a record completion period within only 4 years.

Economic advantages

For her part, a member of the Iraqi Parliamentary Investment and Development Committee, Vian Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, said that the new development path will constitute an important basis for the development of the private sector, given the job opportunities it provides, and the duration of the completion of the project (dry canal) will be between 4 and 5 years with great economic returns for Iraq and the countries of the region.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the deputy explained that the project will be an investment, which means the possibility of participating countries contributing to part of the project, indicating that the investment mechanism will be discussed during detailed meetings after the conference, and according to mechanisms agreed upon later, according to her.

Going to a member of the parliamentary finance committee, Jamal Kojar, he explained that the development road will cost about $ 17 billion, and that there is a great possibility of its implementation, especially since Iraq will not spend any money in the project, and that its establishment will be through direct investment, especially by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which are the most keen countries to participate in the project.

As for the countries that may be affected by the project, he explained that the project will be based on the large port of Faw, which will limit the advantages of the Kuwaiti port of Khor Abdullah, as well as reduce the privileges of the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE, as well as the damage to the Iranian Abadan line from the project, and therefore these countries are keen to contribute to the project.

Reducing international shipping time

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Koger explained that the current Iraqi government is viewed positively internationally, and therefore there is an international demand to revive this road because it will provide a reduction in the period of shipping and transportation from Asia to Europe and vice versa, as well as its contribution to reducing the cost of international shipping.

Nabil al-Marsoumi, a professor of economics at al-Maqal University in Basra province, said the development road project or the "dry canal" includes three phases; the first will be completed in 3, then the second phase in 2028, while the third phase will be completed in 2038 when the full project of the port of Faw, which will include 2050 berths for shipping, is completed.

The decree also explained – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – that with the completion of the first phase in 2028, the road will provide the transport of 3.5 million shipping containers for goods, with revenues estimated at $ 4.8 billion annually.

As for the project's contribution to reducing the time of cargo shipment, the cruise time for ships loaded with goods from the Chinese port of Shanghai to the Dutch port of Rotterdam takes about 33 days, according to the decree, while it will take only 15 days when the goods move from the Chinese port of Shanghai to the Pakistani port of Gwadar and then to the large port of Faw, and from there through the Iraqi dry channel to the Mediterranean ports in Turkey, and from there to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, which means reducing the journey time by more of 50%, he said.

The dry canal project in Iraq comes at a time when Iraq suffers from the deterioration of infrastructure in the transport sector, which the government aspires to address through this new road, at a time when the representative of the World Bank confirmed - during his speech at the conference - that Iraq needs an investment estimated at more than $ 21 billion in the transport sector during the next five years, and that the new development road will increase the interdependence between Iraq and the countries of the region, and the project will reduce pollution emissions significantly, including Contributes to the development of the country.