Peregraf- Sangar Salar
The Kurdistan Region is pulling out all the stops to ensure that the Development Road passes through its territory. The proposed infrastructure project will bring in an estimated $4 billion each year, so the cost of missing out is significant. With such high stakes, disagreement about the route could become yet another point of contention between Erbil and Baghdad.
Dubbed "Iraq’s Silk Road," the $17 billion project involves investment from Iraq, Turkey, the UAE, and Qatar. Its plannedrailways and roads will facilitate trade between Asia and Europe by connecting the Gulf and Turkey. At the moment, the proposed route passes through Nineveh governorate, but mostly skirts Kurdish territory.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) leadership hopesto convince Iraq’s federal government to change this and re-route the transport corridor through their territory so that they can cash in on the expected benefits.
At the moment, the Development Road’s route starts at al-Fawport in southern Basra governorate, passes through a number of cities in central Iraq before heading for Mosul and then Fishkabur, which is located near the border with Turkey. The last few kilometers of the route are just inside the Kurdistan Region, but does not go through any of its major cities.
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So far, Erbil has submitted two alternative proposals to move the route further east, towards its population centers. Baghdad has rejected one proposal already and is still looking into the second, leaving Kurdish officials optimistic that a compromise can still be found.
Where will the road go?
In preparation for the Development Road Project, Iraq has begun a $5 billion construction effort to improve the capacity of the al-Faw port, which it plans to make the largest such facility on the Gulf and the tenth largest in the world. Once completed, it will handle 99 million tons of goods per year.
In total, the project will cost $17 billion, with $10.5 billion needed to build the railway and $6.5 billion for the road portion.
It will be built in three phases: the first is scheduled to start in 2028 and be completed within five years, the second will finish in 2038, and the entire project will be finalized by 2050.
According to the plans, trains on the new railway will travel up to 300 kilometers per hour and cut transport time from Europe to the Gulf from 33 days to just 15 days.
Once offloaded at the port, goods traveling from Asia will pass through ten Iraqi governorates on their way to the Turkish border. As currently planned, the route will travel on the western side of the Tigris River through northern Nineveh governorate after leaving Mosul. It will briefly pass through a small portion of Duhok governorate immediately before reaching the border.
"The route map has been changed several times, the latest change is that it travels seven to eight kilometers through the Kurdistan Region," Karwan Yarwais, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Transportation and Communications Committee, told Peregraf.
However, the KRG is trying to change this to include more of the Kurdistan Region. Its initial proposal was to adjust the route eastwards to Kirkuk and Erbil. After that, it would pass through Sumel, which is located just west of Duhok city, on its way to the border. This has been rejected by the federal government.
The second KRG proposal was for the route to travel on the east side of the Tigris River after Mosul to Sumel and the border at Fishkabur. Ano Jawhar, the KRG’s minister of transportation, has said that this option has been sent to the federal government for study.
Peregraf contacted the KRG Ministry of Transportation for comment about the ongoing negotiations, but officials there declined to comment.
"The talks with the federal government about the Development Road have not yet reached a conclusion. Baghdad has not responded positively to our proposal, but our talks continue," a source familiar with the situation told Peregraf on condition of anonymity.
There are real worries among KRG officials about Baghdad’s plans, which are already being expressed in the media. For instance, KRG Spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani told television channel Kurdistan24 on May 23 that the federal government is trying to prevent the Kurdistan Region from benefitting from the project.
"The map of the Development Road has been modified several times and all the changes had the effect of reducing the distance of the road through the territory of the Kurdistan Region," Hawramani said.
Similarly, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told a conference in Erbil on May 12 that "it is a wrong plan to run the road from Mosul west of the Tigris. It is not populated and it is an empty area."
"The Iraqi prime minister has been misinformed that if the road goes east of the Tigris, it will cost more because there are many mountains, rivers, and ups and downs. But this is not true. Let them investigate it themselves," Barzani added.
High stakes for the Kurdistan Region
In addition to its negotiations with Iraq’s federal government, the KRG is also trying to convince the other countries involved in the Development Road that the route should go further into the Kurdistan Region. With Turkey, UAE, and Qatar providing much of the investment capital, their perspectives may be critical.
While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was visiting Baghdad on April 22, he met with both Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and KRG Prime Minister Barzani.
Following that meeting, Hawramani said that the three leaders had discussed how "the Kurdistan Region should not be excluded from development efforts and should be part of the project."
Later, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani visited the UAE on May 24 and met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The Development Road was part of their conversation.
However, the main discussions are with Baghdad. According to official statements, the federal and KRG ministries of transportation will establish a special committee to discuss the matter.
Jawhar said that federal and KRG officials had "reached an understanding" following a meeting on May 24. "The proposed route is 32 kilometers shorter than the existing plan and is cheaper and safer," he told Peregraf.
Similarly, Yarwais said that there were numerous benefits to having the route on the east side of the Tigris.
"The road needs the coordination of the KRG to be protected and for trade movement to be successful, especially in the areas that pass through the Nineveh Plains," the parliamentarianadded.
The KRG is now waiting for the Iraqi government to respond.
"We will be in talks with the Iraqi prime minister to explain that our proposal is much more economically beneficial for the whole of Iraq and that all communities will benefit from it,"KRG Prime Minister Barzani said.
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Creating jobs across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region
It is understandable that the KRG is putting so much effort into convincing federal officials to change the route. The Development Road project includes railways, motorways, ports,new cities, industrial zones, and commercial projects.
It will create an estimated 100,000 direct jobs in Iraq, along with many more in industries that rely on the transportation network.The manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture sectors will certainly all benefit.
Dr. Khalid Haider, a university professor and economist, told Peregraf that the project "will facilitate trade between Asia and Europe, but it will also provide another source of income for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region besides oil."
He emphasized that it will be important to the Kurdistan Region’s economic future.
"In the places where it passes through the territory of the Kurdistan Region, near and far from the road, many economic activities will be carried out that will create jobs," he said.