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A submerged tunnel under construction in Iraq as part of the multi-billion-dollar Faw Port project will stretch nearly 2.4 kilometres, an Iraqi official was quoted on Wednesday as saying.
The tunnel, dubbed the longest in the Middle East, will link the oil hub of Basra in South Iraq with the nearby port of Umm Qasr, said Farhan Al-Fartousi, Director of the General Company for Ports in Iraq, an affiliate of the Transport Ministry.
In a statement carried by Aliqtisad News and other Iraqi publications, Fartousi said the submerged tunnel would allow for linking Umm Qasr with the “Development Road” which will connect Faw with the Turkish border in North Iraq.
“This is a major project…the tunnel will be nearly 2.5km long and it will pass under Khor Zubair canal to link Basra with Umm Qasr…this means the project will largely contribute to supporting maritime transport from Iraq to other countries,” he said.
Faw Port, scheduled to be completed in 2025, will be one of the world’s largest container terminals, with a planned capacity of 99 million tonnes per year.
The Development Road linking the Port with Turkey is expected to cost around $17 billion, according to the Transport Ministry.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
