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Iraq has approved allocations in its 2023 state budget for its first elevated metro in the capital Baghdad, the local press reported on Monday.
The funds were approved by the cabinet for the Transport Ministry to launch Baghdad Elevated Train (BET) project this year after a long delay due to cash shortages and political upheaval in the OPEC producer.
Iraq’s media quoted Zuhair Al-Fatlawi, a member of the Parliament’s Transport Committee, as saying the 2023 budget includes allocations for the Metro project after a French company completed designs.
He told Aliqtisad News and other publications that the metro would include 31 kilometres of rail in Phase 1 and cover 14 stations.
“I can confirm that the 2023 budget includes financial allocations for the Transport Ministry so it will go ahead with the metro project this year,” Fatlawi said.
He did not name the company but Iraqi officials have said France’s Alstom and Hyundai of South Korea would undertake the implementation of the $2.5 billion project, which aims to ease road congestion in the capital.
Alstom signed a $40 million agreement with Iraq in 2013 for design studies for the project.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
