Transport plans underpin Iraq’s reconstruction
25 May 2023
MEED's June 2023 special report on Iraq also includes:
> GOVERNMENT: Sudani makes fitful progress as Iraq's premier
> ECONOMY: Iraq hits the spend button
> POWER: Iraq power projects make headway
> UPSTREAM DEVELOPERS: No place like Iraq for international oil firms
> OIL & GAS: Iraq's energy sector steadily expands
> TOTALENERGIES: Total to activate $27bn Iraq contract this year
> TRANSPORT: Baghdad approves funds for metro and airport projects
Iraq’s construction and transport sectors look to be turbocharged by its bumper 2023 budget, which envisages a series of major transport investments, alongside social infrastructure and housing plans.
With its new government in place since last year’s election and fiscally cushioned by higher oil prices, Baghdad has returned its attention to rebuilding and modernising the country’s ailing transport and social infrastructure in 2023.
Between 2016 and 2020, there were reportedly 971 reconstruction projects in the country, 718 of them completed. In 2021, the Fund for the Reconstruction of Areas Affected by Terrorist Operations completed 97 projects at a cost of ID86.7bn ($59.5m).
In 2018, Baghdad also released a forward-looking list of 157 projects in need of investment, with a $88bn price tag. These projects included the upgrade and repair of roads, bridges and airports, new city projects, and the rebuilding of hospitals, telecommunications and oil-related industries.
Despite rising revenues, Iraq’s contract awards in construction and transport decreased from $4.1bn in 2021 to only $0.6bn in 2022, according to MEED Projects.
The much larger awards value for 2021 was bolstered by several major contracts including the Ministry of Education’s selection of China’s Sinotec and Power China for the construction of 1,000 schools in different parts of the country. The contracts, worth $2bn, were part of the “oil for reconstruction” and investment deal signed between Iraq and China in 2019. Under the agreement, Chinese firms work in Iraq in exchange for 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
In 2021, the Basra Provincial Council also awarded a $312m contract to the local Al-Narjess Trading & General Contracting for the phase 2 rehabilitation of roads, drainages and sewerage networks in Zubair City.
Big transport ambitions
Although beset by delays since its 2012 commencement date, the ID7.6tn ($5.8bn) Al-Faw Grand Port masterplan is one of the most significant projects under way in Iraq. Located on the northern tip of the Gulf, it is tentatively set to be completed by 2025.
With this flagship port heading towards the finish line, Baghdad is now making moves to expand upon its logistics potential and, specifically, Iraq’s ability to connect freight from the Gulf directly to Europe.
In April, the design was completed for the high-speed ‘Dry Canal’ rail link to Turkiye planned by the Ministry of Transport (MoT).
The scheme will connect the Al-Faw Grand Port in the south with northern Iraq and Turkiye through 1,200 kilometres of new electric railway track. It is one of the region’s largest rail schemes, and aims to provide a cost-effective overland route to Europe to rival the Suez Canal.
Last year, Italian engineering services company Progetti Europa & Global was appointed to carry out feasibility studies for the project. Current plans envisage high-speed trains operating alongside conventional passenger and freight trains. The MoT plans to tender contracts for the multibillion-dollar project by the end of 2023.
In addition to the rail line, Iraq’s Ministry of Transportation is considering a new highway linking the Al-Faw Port to Turkiye.
More recently, Iraq has approved funding for the first elevated metro in its capital and the expansion of Baghdad International airport, as part of the government’s 2023 budget.
The funds will allow work to proceed on the much-delayed Baghdad elevated train project this year, while the airport expansion could start in the second half of 2023. Plans for the metro date back to the late 1970s, and if it had been built then, it would have been the first urban railway in the Arab world. The metro was also included in the 2022 budget, with the Ministry of Finance allocating $2bn to it.
Baghdad airport currently operates three terminals, each designed for 2.5 million passengers a year. The expansion will increase the capacity to 15 million passengers.
Other airport projects are also under way. In March 2022, the foundation stone was laid for Anbar International airport, and in April of that year, then prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi gave the green light for the rehabilitation of Mosul airport.
In 2021, China State Construction Engineering Corporation finalised a $367m deal for the revived Nasiriyah International airport in Dhi Qar, with works commencing in February 2023.
In the past few months, Iraq has also announced over 150 public service and development projects in the capital Baghdad, including 70 road developments, pavements, bridges and overpasses, estimated to cost nearly $17bn over the first two phases.
Housing capacity
Meanwhile, Iraq’s housing shortfall of three million homes is rapidly becoming a major housing crisis for the government. The situation is being exacerbated by Iraq’s rising population. According to UN projections, the country’s population is projected to swell to 50 million by 2030, from around 44 million today.
Baghdad is advancing various large residential schemes to address this, the largest expected to be awarded this year being the mixed-use New Babylon City project. This is being developed by the Ministry of Housing at an estimated cost of $1.03bn. State entities are also taking matters into their own hands. Basra Oil Company, for example, is developing a $156m residential complex for its employees.
Yet such projects alone are unlikely to meet the soaring demand for affordable housing, which looks set to remain a key priority for the government for the foreseeable future.
Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.
Exclusive from Meed
-
November 2025: Data drives regional projects25 November 2025
-
Bahrain pursues reform amid strain25 November 2025
-
Chinese firms expand oil and gas presence25 November 2025
-
Key Iraq oil pipeline report progresses25 November 2025
-
Abu Dhabi advances fuel plan for Barakah nuclear plant25 November 2025
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
November 2025: Data drives regional projects
25 November 2025
Click here to download the PDF
Includes: Top 10 global contractors | Brent Spot Price | Construction output
MEED's 2025 EPC contractor ranking
MEED’s December 2025 report on Bahrain includes:
> COMMENT: Manama pursues reform amid strain
> GVT & ECONOMY: Bahrain’s cautious economic evolution
> BANKING: Mergers loom over Bahrain’s banking system
> OIL & GAS: Bahrain remains in pursuit of hydrocarbon resources
> POWER & WATER: Bahrain advances utility reform
> CONSTRUCTION: Bahrain construction faces major slowdown
> TRANSPORT: Air Asia aviation deal boosts connectivityTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15149339/main.gif -
Bahrain pursues reform amid strain
25 November 2025
Commentary
John Bambridge
Analysis editorCautious optimism defines Bahrain’s current economic moment as the country presses ahead with a broad agenda of diversification, reform and targeted investment. Yet the more assertively Manama moves to reshape its future, the more the tension between its ambition and its fiscal constraints becomes evident as the defining feature of its policymaking.
Bahrain’s projects sector, which has now been shrinking for the past seven years, is emblematic of the country’s constricted spending. This year, contract awards have fallen to their lowest value in a decade. This signals a decisive shift to a more disciplined investment strategy aligned with fiscal realities and a more selective approach to forward-looking capital spending.
The diminished projects market is in turn a challenge for the financial sector, which now faces a receding pool of project financing and other contracting loans. This is giving further impetus to the potential consolidation of local lenders in the overbanked market, which is also beset by thinning margins, rising compliance costs and pressure to scale amid financial system modernisation. While it could create short-term pain, consolidation should boost the financial health of legacy lenders and provide stability in a sector increasingly being defined by new digital banking models and innovation.
Yet even as some sectors change, Bahrain’s government remains deeply reliant on hydrocarbons, which continues to drive exploration, including in the technically complex Khaleej Al-Bahrain basin. These activities reflect the practical need to maintain oil revenues in the medium term and, should additional recoverable reserves be discovered, a potent source of optimism.
Manana is meanwhile looking to overhaul the utilities sector by creating a dedicated regulator and new national operator. The reforms should make space for greater private participation, drawing more capital into power and water projects while improving efficiency and reducing state expenditure in an aspirationally positive step towards greater long-term sustainability.
Even as fiscal concerns narrow Manama’s policy options, it continues to secure strategic wins. A new aviation agreement with Air Asia establishes Bahrain as a regional hub for one of Asia’s largest low-cost carriers. This move opens new connectivity corridors and, alongside the renewal of direct Gulf Air routes to the US, reinforces Bahrain’s position as a gateway between regions, promising benefits for tourism, logistics and services.
Overall, Bahrain’s economic trajectory remains delicately balanced – marked by reform-driven progress yet tempered by fiscal constraint. But in threading this needle, Manama shows that cautious optimism can still be a powerful catalyst for change.
MEED’s December 2025 report on Bahrain includes:
> GVT & ECONOMY: Bahrain’s cautious economic evolution
> BANKING: Mergers loom over Bahrain’s banking system
> OIL & GAS: Bahrain remains in pursuit of hydrocarbon resources
> POWER & WATER: Bahrain advances utility reform
> CONSTRUCTION: Bahrain construction faces major slowdown
> AVIATION: Bahrain signs game-changer aviation deal with Air AsiaTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15109785/main.gif -
Chinese firms expand oil and gas presence
25 November 2025
> This package also includes: Larsen & Toubro climbs EPC contractor ranking
Chinese contractors have been present in the oil and gas projects market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region since the turn of this century, but largely remained on the fringes. In a hydrocarbons market that has traditionally been dominated by European and American contractors, and those from Japan and South Korea, Chinese firms have become a rising force, especially since the start of the decade.Economic competitiveness in bid battles, significant improvement in engineering and technological capabilities and commitment to execution schedules have been primary factors behind the success of Chinese contractors in the regional oil and gas projects market since 2020.
Competitive edge
Traditionally, Chinese engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have enjoyed a lower cost base than their international competitors. This comes from lower manpower costs, access to cheaper materials and equipment, and financial support from state banks.
In addition, Chinese firms have typically had a different attitude to risk than many other contractors. Instead of seeking to turn a profit on specific projects, Chinese firms have entered markets cautiously and, as their knowledge of the local market grew, built a commanding long-term position.More recently, the edge that Chinese contractors enjoy has come from the technical experience they have gained from delivering large-scale, complex projects in their domestic market. While in the past Chinese contractors were only considered capable of delivering basic construction work, they now have some of the best project references in the world.
Regional leaders
Chinese EPC contractors have strengthened their performance in the Mena oil and gas projects market, particularly since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2023, the combined value of projects won by Chinese firms has consistently remained well over $13bn, with them winning key contracts on major projects.
The largest EPC scheme under execution by a Chinese contractor in the region is on a project to maintain and increase the oil production potential of the Bul Hanine offshore oil field development in Qatar. China Offshore Oil Engineering Company won contracts worth $4bn for the two main EPC packages of the project in the third quarter of 2025.Also this year, Abu Dhabi’s Taziz awarded the main EPC contract to build a complex of specialty chemicals plants in the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone at Ruwais Industrial City to China National Chemical Engineering & Construction Corporation Seven (CC7).
The EPC contract is valued at $1.99bn, with work expected to be completed by Q4 2028. The chemicals cluster, known as Project Salt, will produce 1.9 million tonnes a year of marketable polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda.
Chinese contractors have also enjoyed success in Saudi Arabia, with Aramco having awarded several key EPC contracts to Chinese firms since 2023. China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Company, Sepco and Sinopec Petroleum Services are executing EPC works on four out of the 17 packages of the third expansion phase of Aramco’s Master Gas System project.
Sinopec Group has played a significant role in Aramco’s Jafurah unconventional gas development in Saudi Arabia. In a consortium with Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas, in 2024 Sinopec won packages one and two of the Riyas natural gas liquids scheme, part of the second Jafurah unconventional gas expansion phase. The combined value of the two EPC contracts was $3.2bn.
Just weeks after securing these EPC contracts, the consortium also won the contract to deliver the entire scope of work on the scheme’s third expansion phase, valued at $2.24bn.
In Iraq, China Petroleum Engineering (CPE) won a major contract in August to carry out EPC works on a package covering a major seawater transmission pipeline to be built in Basra as part of the larger Common Seawater Supply Project, which is one of four main components of the estimated $10bn Gas Growth Integrated Project masterplan.
Work on the $2.52bn contract will be carried out by CPE’s engineering arm, China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering.
China has built up extensive resources, from skilled personnel to technical know-how. As the domestic market shows signs of slowing, these resources are being deployed internationally, supporting the growing presence of Chinese contractors in the Mena region.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15149182/main.gif -
Key Iraq oil pipeline report progresses
25 November 2025
Progress is being made on a key report on pricing relating to the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP) and it is expected to be completed before the end of the year, according to industry sources.
The research and consultancy company Wood Mackenzie is writing the report, which will help determine the prices oil-producing companies receive in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
The consultancy was contracted by the Iraqi government to assess production and transportation costs for Kurdish oil earlier this year.
Since then, concerns about potential disruption to exports via the ITP have increased due to sanctions on the Russian oil company Rosneft, which owned a 60% stake in the pipeline.
In an attempt to stop sanctions from disrupting oil flows through the pipeline, Rosneft has sold an 11% stake in the ITP to the UAE-based fund manager DEX Capital.
On 27 September, oil flows restarted to the Turkish port of Ceyhan from Iraqi Kurdistan via the ITP.
The pipeline restart followed an agreement reached by oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan with Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Under the terms of the deal, the KRG will deliver the crude to Iraq’s state-owned oil marketing company, Somo, and an independent trader will handle sales from the Turkish port of Ceyhan using Somo’s official prices.
The eight oil producers have agreed to accept a temporary price of $16 a barrel until the Wood Mackenzie review is completed.
The final review is expected to lead to a retroactive adjustment of payments.
The initial shutdown started in March 2023, when the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkiye to pay Iraq $1.5bn in damages for what it decided were unauthorised exports by the Kurdish regional authorities.
Turkiye has stated that it plans to continue its appeal against this compensation order.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15146232/main.jpg -
Abu Dhabi advances fuel plan for Barakah nuclear plant
25 November 2025
Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (Enec) and France’s Framatome have completed the first lead fuel assemblies for the Barakah nuclear energy plant.
The assemblies were manufactured at Framatome’s US-based facility and will now undergo testing under Enec’s fuel qualification programme before any commercial use.
Barakah is the first multi-unit nuclear energy plant in the region. Its four APR-1400 reactors generate about 40 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually and supply around 25% of the UAE’s power demand.
In July, the firms announced a fuel supply agreement as part of Enec’s strategy to diversify Barakah’s nuclear fuel sources.
The plant completed its first year of full-fleet operations in September, generating more than 120TWh of clean electricity since Unit 1 began operating in 2021.
Construction began in July 2012, with Unit 4 completed in December 2023 and entering operation in September 2024. At its peak, the site was the world’s largest nuclear construction project, with four reactors built simultaneously.
The plant was delivered in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), under the oversight of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, and in line with standards set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Association of Nuclear Operators.
Over 2,000 UAE nationals now work at Barakah, alongside international experts, establishing a skilled Emirati-led nuclear workforce.
Framatome produced the first lead fuel assemblies at its NRC-licensed facility in Washington state. More than 6,000 assemblies of this type have previously been supplied from this site.
Barakah 2
MEED recently reported that discussions for Barakah 2 (Reactors 5-8) may be delayed by around two years, with tariff considerations potentially a key part of the next phase.
In addition, it was previously reported that the state utility, Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec), does not foresee the installation of an additional 2.8GW of nuclear energy capacity until 2039.
Given the average 10-year procurement and construction period for nuclear power plants, this suggests talks will likely start sometime between 2027 and 2028.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15141415/main.jpg