Iraq has completed designs for a $multi-billion metro network in the capital Baghdad after a delay of several years due to security and financial reasons, an aide to the country’s Prime Minister was reported on Monday as saying.

Nassir Al-Assadi, an adviser for transport, said the Baghdad Elevated Metro would play an effective role in tackling persistent road bottlenecks in the capital.

“The general designs for the Baghdad Metro have been completed…we are now negotiating with the project consultant to set a date to start work,” Assadi told the official Iraqi news agency (INA).

Iraqi officials said in 2022 that the project, with an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, would be awarded to Alstom of France and the South Korean company Hyundai.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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