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Iraq is pushing ahead with a major project involving the construction of a dry canal and rail network that will link its Southern port of Al-Faw with Turkey, an Iraqi official was reported on Wednesday as saying.
Farhan Al-Fartoosi, Director General of the General Company for Ports in Iraq (GCPI), said designs for the project have almost been completed and that infrastructure works are progressing nine months after the project was approved.
He said the dry canal and rail would link the Faw Grand Port, which is under construction, with Turkish ports and Central Asia.
“This is a large project…we call it the Iraqi Silk Road project as it will link Iraq with Turkey and Central Asia…we expect it to be completed within four years,” Fartoosi said, quoted by Shafaq news and other Iraqi publications.
He said the “Silk Road” project also comprises the Al-Faw Grand Port, which will be one of the largest container terminals in the world. The Faw project was approved in 2010 but was blocked by cash shortages and internal hostilities before it was re-launched three years ago.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
