Iraq seeks funding to boost transport

Iraq is seeking external funding to help fix the country's dilapidated transport infrastructure. According to the new transport minister Amer Abdel-Jabbar Ismail, the system is on the road to recovery after decades of neglect, but funding is inadequate and new investors from abroad are needed desperately.

Ismail is reported by the Agence France Press (AFP) as having the transport ministry moving forward again and has signed a preliminary accord with Air France-KLM which will see Iraqi Airways taking off for European destinations and Baghdad's airport being renovated.

Ismail is reported by the AFP as having the transport ministry moving forward again and has signed a preliminary accord with Air France-KLM which will see Iraqi Airways taking off for European destinations and Baghdad's airport being renovated.

Despite initial successes the ministry's budget of $450 million is far too small to fulfil Iraq's basic transport needs, Ismail said.

"We don't have enough money for our projects, so we will have to go to outside investors for funding," he told AFP, adding that he is already in talks with potential investors from Turkey, Germany and Denmark.

Ismail's ministry has the unwieldy task of rebuilding a heavily damaged transport system that includes airports, the national airline, ports and buses, and about 2,000 kilometres of rails.