Iraq has launched a project to build a motorway linking three Northern governorates as part of post-war reconstruction plans, an official was quoted on Thursday as saying.

The 27-km road will connect Nineveh, Kirkuk and Saladin and is within plans by the Construction and Housing Ministry to rebuild roads that were damaged during the war.

Phase 1 of the project will cost around 14 billion Iraqi dinars ($10 million) and the funds have already been approved by the cabinet, said Muna Ahmed, head of the Roads and Bridges Department in Kirkuk.

She told the official Iraq news agency that the project has been awarded to a local company and that it would ease traffic congestion and facilitates freight and passengers movement. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)