Iraq launches first part of Development Road project
The 62-kilometer road has three lanes for heavy trucks and is protected with a high-quality safety wall to ensure vehicle safety, according to a statement released by the Iraqi Ministry of Transport.
The finished part is 51 kilometers long, extending from the Al-Faw Grand Port to the underwater tunnel, with an additional 11 kilometers to the main road toward the southern town of Safwan near the Kuwaiti border.
The project contains two main bridges that are 805 meters and 300 meters long and is equipped with solar-powered lights to ensure sustainable energy and current technology utilization.
The Iraqi Minister of Transport, Razzaq Al-Saadawi, revealed in March that the first phase of the Al-Faw Grand Port will be completed by the end of 2025.
Expected to be the biggest seaport in the Middle East, Iraq's Al-Faw Grand Port stands out due to its open-sea setting, which spans 54 square kilometers, according to Al-Saadawi.
The first phase of the project consists of five piers, which have been completely finished; a 62-kilometer road that connects the Al-Faw Grand Port to Umm Qasr port city; a 2,400-meter-long submerged tunnel; a ship canal; and a container yard, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
The underwater tunnel being built under the Khor Al-Zubair Channel forms part of the new highway being built to link the Al-Faw Grand Port to Umm Qasr Port and the existing transport network, including Iraq's Development Road.
The Al-Faw Grand Port is located on the Khor Abdallah Channel, near the mouth of Shatt Al-Arab.
According to Maritime Gateway News, the five container shipping berths, which have been constructed by Daewoo E&C, a company located in South Korea, can each hold ships up to 23,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
With 100 berths and the capacity to handle 7.5 million TEU annually, the Al-Faw Grand Port is expected to surpass Dubai's 67-berth Jebel Ali as the largest container port in the Middle East when finished in 2038.
Four million TEU of containers may be handled annually by the port's first phase, which is anticipated to be finished in 2028.
By connecting the port city of Basra to Turkey via an overland route, the $7 billion logistics project will compete with Egypt's Suez Canal and establish Basra as a gateway to Europe.
The strategic project of the Development Road aims to connect Asia and Europe through gas and oil pipelines, rail networks, and road networks.
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