“Death Roads” Hinder Trade in Iraq… A Bet on “Development”

“Death Roads” Hinder Trade in Iraq… A Bet on “Development”

2026-10-25

Shafaq News – Baghdad
The land transport sector in Iraq faces accumulated challenges ranging from the deterioration of some external roads and the risks of overloading, to the limited rail connection with neighboring countries, despite indications of growing transit freight traffic through the country.

While the government is working on upgrading roads and developing trade exchange areas and border crossings, attention is turning to the “Development Road” project as one of the most prominent bets for transforming Iraq into a trade corridor linking East and West, and enhancing its role in stimulating trade and diversifying the economy.

According to experts, the challenges facing this sector are numerous, ranging from road safety and infrastructure efficiency to border procedures. Revitalizing external transport requires providing safe and fast routes for trucks and developing the railway system, which would reduce the costs of transporting goods and increase the country’s ability to attract regional and international trade.

Lack of rail links

In this context, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, Hussein Ahmed, says that land transport depends on two main pillars, namely rail transport and truck transport, noting that the incomplete railway network and the lack of connecting lines with neighboring countries represent one of the most prominent challenges to the development of freight transport.

Ahmed explains to Shafaq News Agency that the current network does not provide an integrated international rail link with Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, while some internal lines, especially in Nineveh and Anbar, still need to be completed and developed.

He adds that rail transport provides greater capacity for transporting large quantities of goods, and allows their movement along regular routes, especially general cargo and goods heading to ports, while trucks are more suitable for transporting goods that require greater speed and flexibility.

Transit transport recovery

Despite the infrastructure challenges, Ahmed believes that Iraq has made progress in land transport by trucks, after decades of declining traffic due to wars, security disturbances and damage to infrastructure.

The speaker notes that trade through Iraq has declined significantly since the 1980s, before the security situation after 2003 hindered the return of external transport to its possible levels. These obstacles continued until 2018, after which the Corona pandemic came and added new challenges.

However, Iraq’s actual entry into the TIR transit agreement, along with the pressures facing some waterways, encouraged carriers.

Ahmed says that about 10,000 shipments have crossed Iraq in this context, with an increase in transport operations, attributing this to the improvement in the security situation and the development of trade exchange areas at border crossings, as well as the introduction of digitization and automation systems that have contributed to reducing opportunities for corruption and improving procedures.

However, the sustainability of this growth remains linked to Iraq’s ability to address road bottlenecks, expedite transit procedures, and provide infrastructure capable of accommodating the increasing truck traffic, especially as the country seeks to strengthen its position within regional trade routes.

Road deterioration

In contrast, former Iraqi Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki believes that the sector still faces complex challenges that have accumulated over decades, most notably the deterioration of infrastructure and the spread of sinkholes in highways and international roads, which have become popularly known as “death roads”.

Al-Maliki told Shafaq News Agency that the lack of effective periodic maintenance, the large increase in truck weights, weak control over loads, as well as the failure to activate weigh stations with the required efficiency, are all factors that contribute to the deterioration of roads and the increased risk of accidents.

He adds that the lack of lighting and directional signs, along with bureaucracy at border crossings and weak integration with neighboring countries, negatively impacts traffic safety, the efficiency of external transport, and transit traffic.

Overloading stands out as a double challenge; it not only accelerates road damage and increases maintenance costs, but it can also raise the risk of accidents, especially on roads that already suffer from poor infrastructure or a lack of safety requirements.

To address these problems, Maliki calls for launching a comprehensive national campaign to rehabilitate and expand the road network, while broadening partnerships with the private sector and encouraging investment to alleviate the financial burden on the state.

He also stressed the need to operate smart weighing stations, impose strict control over truck weights, and modernize the land transport fleet and equip it with modern safety systems and radars, in order to protect the lives of road users and reduce damage to infrastructure.

Road rehabilitation and monitoring

Regarding efforts to improve roads and address the risks of overloading, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Construction and Housing, Nabil Al-Saffar, says that the ministry’s responsibility in this area is focused on the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of external roads, through the Roads and Bridges Department, while the Ministry of Transport manages land transport activities.

Al-Saffar explained to Shafaq News Agency that the ministry is currently working on more than 80 projects distributed across the country’s governorates, including developing roads linking economic centers, industrial zones and border crossings, constructing bridges and intersections, repairing damaged sections, and implementing projects to alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety requirements.

He adds that the ministry has also begun the construction of 60 weigh stations distributed between the entrances to governorates, the entrances to construction quarries and the roads leading to border crossings, using electronic monitoring systems to control overloads.

According to Al-Saffar, these stations aim to protect roads from damage caused by excessive loads, reduce maintenance costs and economic losses associated with their damage, as well as raise the level of traffic safety and reduce the risk of accidents.

These measures have economic importance that goes beyond road maintenance, as improving their efficiency can reduce the time it takes to transport goods and raw materials, lower truck operating costs and fuel consumption, and speed up the arrival of products to local markets, in addition to stimulating trade through border crossings and ports.

Al-Saffar emphasizes that achieving these goals requires coordination between sectoral bodies, including the Ministries of Transport, Construction and Housing, the General Authority of Customs, the Border Ports Authority, and the Traffic Department, to address the obstacles that affect the speed and cost of transporting goods.

Trade exchange squares

In parallel with the rehabilitation of roads, the Ministry of Transport is working on developing the infrastructure that supports the movement of trucks, especially the trade exchange yards at the border crossings, which represent one of the links in organizing the entry of goods, unloading of cargo and redistribution.

Returning to Hussein Ahmed, he says that the exchange yards at the Trebil and Ibrahim Al-Khalil border crossings have been completed, as has the yard at the Shalamja border crossing, while plans continue to develop the yards at the Zurbatiya border crossing and other crossings, and to create new yards and expand the scope of automation and digitization.

He notes that the ministry is also working on developing a digital system for monitoring trucks, and enhancing coordination with security agencies and those responsible for border crossings, with the aim of improving the flow of transport and raising the levels of security and safety on the roads.

In the same context, Nabil Al-Saffar says that the General Company for Land Transport is working on projects to establish trade exchange yards at the entrances to Baghdad, in addition to developing yards at some border crossings, which will help to regulate the movement of trucks, distribute goods, and reduce transport time and costs.

The development of these yards is part of a broader approach to addressing external transport problems, as the speed of goods movement depends not only on the quality of roads, but is also affected by the efficiency of customs and border procedures, and the ability of the concerned authorities to coordinate transit, unloading and distribution operations, according to the speakers.

The path of development

At the strategic level, the Ministry of Transport places the “Development Road” project at the forefront of its plans to address the limited rail connectivity and develop freight transport corridors across Iraq.

Ahmed says the project, which stretches from Basra in the far south of Iraq to Turkey, consists of two main routes, one for railways and the other a road dedicated to trucks, with the possibility of later linking it to sub-networks reaching neighboring countries.

According to the ministry’s vision, the project would provide a corridor for transporting goods away from city centers, traffic jams, and checkpoints that may hinder the movement of trucks, as well as enhance integration between rail and road transport.

For his part, Maliki is counting on the project to link the Grand Faw Port to the Turkish border, which could allow Iraq to expand its role in international trade, increase non-oil revenues, provide job opportunities, and stimulate investment in the transport and logistics sectors.

However, turning this ambition into tangible economic results requires, in addition to implementing the project, upgrading existing roads, completing the railway infrastructure, developing border crossings, and standardizing the procedures that govern the movement of goods.

Amid financial pressures, Ahmed concluded by saying that the ministry is working on developing local railway network projects through financing arrangements and loans from the World Bank, in addition to understandings and agreements in this regard, with the local network to be linked, after its development, to the development road project to achieve integration between internal and international corridors.

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