Iraq Allocates Budget to Key Railway Link to Iran
TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for economic diplomacy Mehdi Safari has said that the Iraqi government has for a first time allocated a budget to a key railway project that links the country’s southern port of Basra to Iran’s border town of Shalamcheh.
Safari said on Thursday that the two countries had reached an agreement to start the long-anticipated construction works for the 32-kilometer railway project after the holy month of Ramadan in late April.
“Iraq has allocated a budget of nearly $230 million for the Shalamcheh-Basra railway and this is happening for a first time,” Safari said.
The comments came a day after Iraq’s transportation minister Razzaq Muhibis Al-Saadawi paid a short visit to Tehran to finalize a series of bilateral agreements and projects, including the cross-border railway project.
Iran’s transportation minister Mehrdad Bazrpash said that a first phase of construction works for Shalamcheh-Basra railway will involve demining operations on lands in border regions that have remained inaccessible since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
Bazrpash said Iranian companies will then start building an 880-meter modern bridge on the Shatt al Arab River in Iraq while launching track-laying works at the same time.
He said the entire project is expected to take 18 months, adding that Iran and Iraq will be able to extend the timing based on recent agreements reached between the two countries.
Experts say the launch of Shalamcheh-Basra rail link will lead to a major increase in trade and religious tourism between Iran and Iraq.
The project will also give Iran railway access to Syria and Jordan through the Iraqi territory while enabling Iraq to take delivery of cargo via Iran’s large rail network from other countries.
Shalamcheh-Basra
Railway to Connect Iran to Jordan, Syria
Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development for Transportation Affairs Shahriar Afandizadeh said that with the launch of Shalamcheh-Basra Railway, Iran will be connected to countries like Jordan, Syria and other neighboring countries in addition to Iraq.
Afandizadeh highlighted the significance of trade and economic relations between Iran and Iraq, and said five provinces of Iran and Iraq share a border and Shalamcheh is the most important border crossing.
For many years, efforts have been made to connect the rail network from Shalamcheh to Basra, according to which, Iran can connect its railway to the holy city of Karbala, he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Afandizadeh pointed to the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Iraqi officials and added that the construction operation of the Shalamcheh-Basra Railway project would be terminated within one and a half years.
This railway will be 32 kilometers long and when it is launched, Iran’s railway network will be connected to Jordan, Syria, and also other neighboring states.