Iraq is constructing largest port in the Middle East
An aerial view of the breakwater and the progress of the construction work in the Al-Faw Grand Port in Basra, Iraq. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) announced the completion of the first layer of the road linking the Al-Faw Grand Port and the underwater tunnel in Basra governorate.
Director of the GCPI, Farhan Al-Fartousi, confirmed in a statement that the first layer of the 52-kilometer road that connects the Al-Faw Grand Port to the submerged tunnel has been completed, according to Baghdad Today News.
“These works are considered a strategic turning point in the construction of the road project linking the Al-Faw Grand Port and Umm Qasr Road,” Al-Fartousi explained.
“The 45-meter wide and one-meter high road has been completed and is now ready for vehicles to pass,” Al-Fartousi elaborated.
The official spokesperson of Ministry of Transport, Hussein Al-Rubaie, revealed last June that the tunnel being built under 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, according to Zawya News.
The Al-Faw Grand Port is located on the Khor Abdallah Channel, near the mouth of Shatt Al Arab.
The Al-Faw Grand Port is being developed by Daewoo E&C and the container terminal is a part of its first phase that goes into operation, according to Maritime Gateway News.
The first phase will have five container shipping berths that can each accommodate ships of up to 23 thousand twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), Maritime Gateway News mentioned.
When fully completed in 2038, the Al-Faw Grand Port, with 100 berths that can handle 7.5 million TEU annually, and would overtake Dubai’s 67-berth Jebel Ali as the largest container port in the Middle East, Maritime Gateway News reported.
The first phase of the port, expected to be completed in 2028, is estimated to have an annual container handling capacity of four million TEU, Maritime Gateway News added.
The seven billion USD logistics project will rival the Suez Canal in Egypt as it will be linked through an overland route to Turkey by rail, and would make the port city of Basra a gateway to Europe.
The 2.5-kilometer underwater tunnel is an important segment of the Iraq’s ambitious project which seeks to link Asia and Europe via road and rail network, as well as gas and oil pipelines, Zawya News added.