Iraq has ended a contract awarded to Italy’s PEG company for design and consultancy services in a $17-billion rail project and replaced it with Oliver Wyman of the US.

The Transport Ministry decided to end the contract after designs prepared by PEG were found to be “unconvincing”, well-known Iraqi economist Nabil Al-Marsumi said.

In a Sunday post on Facebook, Marsumi said, "The Iraqi cabinet found that the designs prepared by PEG for the Development Road were found to be unconvincing for several international parties interested in the project…for this reason the cabinet decided to end the consultancy contract with PEG and award it to Oliver Wyman.”

The “Development Road”, scheduled to be finished in 2029, involves the construction of a 1,200-km rail line and a motorway linking Iraq’s Southern Faw Port with Europe via Turkey.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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