The Great Port of Al-Faw, linking the Eastern and Western worlds

At a cost of 4.6 billion euros, The Grand Port of Al-Faw is Iraq’s most ambitious infrastructure project to date. The port’s planned capacity is estimated to be 99 million tons annually, to be one of the largest in the Gulf region. The Grand Port and Rocky Island project is based on the idea of constructing a rocky island in the Iraqi part of the Arabian Gulf waters. It will contain a city of 350 square kilometers, extending into the sea by about 250 square kilometers.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications confirms that work in the Faw port is proceeding at an accelerated pace, ahead of the planned opening in early 2025. The Director General of the Iraqi Ports Department of the Ministry of Transport, Farhan Al-Fartousi, said, “The Ministry of Planning recently conducted a field tour of the Al-Faw port project. It had more than one goal, the first of which was to see the progress of work and the percentages of completion.” Al-Fartousi added, “There are five projects that are currently underway, and we have officially launched the process of driving the pillars on the sidewalks, which is an important stage.”

Al-Fartousi stressed that “works will continue until the full completion of the project,” and he spoke of “a visit to the CEO and deputy director of Daewoo a few days ago to agree with him regarding amending plans in order to speed up work.”

According to economists, Al-Faw port will contribute to the development of the Iraqi economy and increase commercial traffic, which will achieve 4 times what Iraq collects financially from all other ports combined. The economic expert, Muhammad Al-Basri, says that the port of Al-Faw, if all its aspects are completed, will have a significant impact on changing Iraq’s position at the level of global trade, as it represents a shortcut with lower transportation costs, and here lies the importance of the economic feasibility of that project. Initial expectations by the companies specialized in implementing the project estimated the value of its imports during 10 years to exceed $500 billion, and thus it would be an alternative resource for oil, which constitutes more than 90% of the country’s national revenues.”

For his part, Director General of Sectors in the Ministry of Planning, Muhammad Nassif, who conducted the visit to the port, said that “the actual completed work exceeded the plan by 3%,” stressing that “the current completion rate is about 28.5%.”

The geopolitical and strategic importance of the Faw port lies in the fact that, if completed, it will connect the East with Europe through the port of Faw and through a railway route between Iraq, Turkey and Syria, reaching Europe and the passage of the Silk Road overland from China through Iraq with a fast rail link that cuts about 2,000 km with a fast rail network that secures The arrival of goods and commodities from the ports of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf towards the mainland in Basra, to Turkey and Europe.