MESOP PROGRESS : SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ) Railway plan will join Turkey and the Kurdistan Region

13.03.2014 – HeminSalih – BasNews, Erbil – A Turkish MP has announced that the railway project set to run from Istanbul, to the south of Turkey and into the Kurdistan Region will be executed. Ghalib Ansari Uglu, a Kurdish member of Turkish Parliament for the AKP told Turkish press that Istanbul willbe joint to the Kurdish part of Turkey.

Uglu explained that the railway will run through Ankara, Koniya, Mersin, Gazi-Entab, Urfa, to Diyarbeki. From Diyarbekir the railway will reach Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region. According to Turkish press, President Massoud Barzani had requested that the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan approve the project. The KRG Transport Ministry General Director Salah Jawhar told BasNews that the railway comes from South Iraq and, after Mosul; it reaches Zakho, and then passes to Turkey. “Inside Iraq, the railway project is designed by a company from the Czech Republic, financed by Iraqi government,” Added Jawhar.

 “When it comes to the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Regional Government will be responsible for funding the project.” The KRG Transport Ministry General Director explained that there is also a project for establishing a tramway inside the Kurdistan Region, and since last year all designs and feasibility studies have been completed. “As the first phase, the Erbil tramway would be executed, and some funds will be allocated for it from 2014 Kurdistan Region budget,” added Jawhar. Jawhar further explained that the KRG Transport Ministry has planned to build 100 km for fast buses in Erbil which will be executed by an Italian company.