Iraq is planning to construct a new motorway for freight trucks stretching from the South to Kurdistan in the North, an official has said.

The highway is intended to ease traffic bottlenecks and ensure rapid shipping services through the OPEC member, said Hani Al-Azawi, Director of the Roads and Bridges Department in the Eastern Diayla Governorate.

“This important project will materialise in the near future and will start from Basra and pass through Baghdad towards Kirkuk in the North,” he told the official news agency.

Azawi did not mention project costs or provide details of the road but the distance between Basra and Kurdistan is nearly 900 kilometres.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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