Iraq to launch Baghdad metro project later this year

• Multi-billion dollar scheme
• 150km of roads covered
• 64 stations planned

Iraq has decided to launch a delayed multi-billion dollar Baghdad metro project at the end of this year, according to a senior official cited in local media.

The project will be executed in stages and will take several years as it comprises more than 60 stations and covers 150 km of roads, said Mohammed Al-Najjar, an adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.

“We hope that phase one of this strategic project will be launched before the end of this year. It needs years to be completed and it will be carried out in stages,” Al-Najjar told al-Eqtisad News. The country is due to hold general elections in November.

The metro, Iraq’s first, will be elevated in some areas and will run underground and on the surface in others, he said. The Baghdad Metro project comprises seven metro lines covering 150 kilometres and served by 64 stations in total.

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In July last year, Iraq said it had awarded the metro project to a European-Turkish consortium comprising France’s Systra, SNCF and Alstom, Spain’s Talgo and SENER and Turkish contractors, backed by Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

The project is part of a Baghdad masterplan, which includes an expanded transport network, the construction of a ring road and schemes to ease traffic bottlenecks, according to a city official.