An Italian engineering services company selected to oversee the construction of a multi-billion-dollar Development Road project has completed 53 percent of the design study, Iraq’s Transport Minister has said.

Italferr is also examining soil to determine the path of the rail and an adjoining motorway that could stretch nearly 1,200 km from South Iraq towards the Northern border with Turkey, Razzak Al-Saadawi said.

He told the official Iraqi News Agency on Monday that the firm has completed 53 percent of designs for the rail and 31 percent for the motorway in the ‘Development Road’ project.

Saadawi revealed that Iraq is negotiating with some countries for possible contribution to the project, with an estimated cost of nearly $17 billion.

“There are talks with several countries in this respect, including China, Europe and neighbouring countries….the countries most interested in the project are Turkey, the UAE, Qatar and Iran,” the Minister said.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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