The Prime Minister of Iraq is creating a committee to deal with the purchase of land for a road project

Shafaq News/ Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Sunday established a committee to address issues related to land acquisition for the Development Road project, his office said in a press release.

According to a press release, the committee will focus on preparing land registry maps, verifying the ownership and legal status of properties along the route and facilitating their takeover by the Ministry of Transport.

The committee will include representatives from relevant government agencies, including General Railways Corporation, Directorate of Real Estate, General Office of Survey, Directorate of Agricultural Lands, Directorate General of Municipalities and Directorate of Roads and Bridges, the press release added.

Prime Minister al-Sudani also ordered the commission to address the requirements set out during the ministerial meeting of the quadrilateral commission established under the memorandum of understanding between Iraq, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Originally conceived in the 1980s and then known as the “Dry Canal” corridor, the $17 billion Development Road project will see the construction of approximately 1,200 km of bi-directional rail tracks and a new highway, stretching from Al-Faw in Basra to the Turkish border in the north. This route passes through Basra, Al-Diwaniyah, Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad and Mosul, creating a land corridor connecting Baghdad and Ankara.

Since taking office in October 2022, al-Sudani has been a vocal supporter of the Development Path, seeing it as a key driver of Iraq’s economic progress, strengthening the country’s links to the global market and generating new sources of income and jobs. Iraqi officials lobbied for the project during the Arab League summit in Jeddah in May 2023 and during al-Sudani’s visits to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. This month, Baghdad hosted a conference to present the Development Path to transport ministers and officials from regional countries and garner their support. Al-Sudani emphasized the project’s importance as “a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy and a link to Iraq’s neighbors and the region.”