Preliminary design work on a 1,200km motorway between Iraq and Turkey – known as the “Development Road” – has been completed, World Highways reports.
It’s intended to support an economic corridor between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
A railway and oil pipeline are also being considered.
Turkey and Iraq are reported to be ready to invest $24bn in the corridor.
Qatar and the UAE have also joined talks about investing in the programme.
The corridor is dependent on Al-Faw, Iraq’s only deepwater, high-capacity port.
The port is currently undergoing a $2.6bn modernisation undertaken by South Korea’s Daewoo E&C.
A five-berth container terminal with an initial capacity of 3.5 million containers a year is expected to open for business in 2025, with full completion to follow in 2028.
Proponents hope the route between Al-Faw and Istanbul will be a new artery for global trade, bypassing the Suez Canal and cutting two weeks from the shipping time between China and Europe.
The Development Road would follow the Euphrates River from Basra to Nasiriyah, passing through the Shia pilgrimage cities of Najaf and Karbala, and continuing to Baghdad and Mosul.
From there, it would reach the southern Turkish border city of Mersin before finally extending to Istanbul and Europe.
The plan is for construction to start in 2025, with three phases ending in 2028, 2033 and 2050.
Progress would depend on Iraq and Turkey resolving a number of political disputes.
These are mainly connected with the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group with bases in northern Iraq, and Türkiye’s use of water from the Tigris and Euphrates, which Iraq says is hurting its irrigation-dependent agriculture.
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