Iraq has received bids from companies in the UAE, Qatar and other countries for a project involving an elevated metro, underground rail networks and bus services, a Transport Ministry official said in press comments on Thursday.

Besides the elevated metro, the project includes land and underground rail services as well as 72 new bus transport lanes, the Ministry’s Information Director Maytham Safi told the official Iraqi News Agency.

Safi said the train project would cover at least 85 percent of the capital Baghdad.

“We have received applications from several companies to execute the project, including from the UAE, Qatar, China and the US…many Arab and global companies have expressed deep interest and asked to be part of the Baghdad Metro project” he said

The $2.5-bln Baghdad Metro, Iraq’s first, has been on the cards for several years but was held up by security and financial problems.

Read more: Iraq starts bidding process for 2 metro projects

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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