US$ 217 Million for Iraq highway

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$ 217 million loan to support construction of a 1,300 km road in Iraq.

A new trade corridor connecting Iraq to its neighbouring countries, Expressway No 1, is planned to begin from the city of Umm ul Qasr in the southern Iraqi Province of Basra on the Kuwaiti borders.

It will pass through the Iraqi cities of Naseriyah, Diwaniyah, Hillah, Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and Rutbah to areas near the country’s borders with Syria and Jordan.

The IDB said the total cost of the project was estimated at US$ 1 billion, of which its funds covered 22%, or around 258 km. Other major financiers are the World Bank (financing 32% of the project), the Iraqi government (29%) and other partners (17%).