1. Development Road

Dubbed the Development Road, and estimated to cost around 17 billion dollars, the infrastructure project aims to tie the Grand Faw Port in Iraq’s oil-rich south to Turkey. The country would be effectively turned into a transit hub by shortening travel time between Asia and Europe and competing with the Suez Canal.

The Development Road is not just a road to move goods or passengers. This road opens the door to development of vast areas of Iraq.

Farhan al-Fartousi, Director General of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, for Reuters

The project was announced at a conference convening delegates from the Arab Gulf states, Syria and Jordan. According to Reuters, a senior government aide said regional investment was on the table. Before courting Arab interest, on 21 March, Iraq and Turkiye agreed on a number of economic deals, including the rail and road network.

The network will start from Faw Port, which is under construction in south Iraq, and will pass through ten Iraqi governorates. The project foresees the construction of electric high speed trains for freight and passengers and is expected to cost around 10.5 billion dollars, while the 1,200 kilometre motorway will cost 6.5 billion dollars.

“We will make this line active again and tie it to other countries,” said Fartousi, having in mind plans to transport tourists and pilgrims to Shiite holy sites in Iraq and Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage.

2. Regional investment

With the support and investment of regional partners, Iraq’s government envisions high-speed trains moving goods and passengers at up to 300 kilometres per hour, links to local industry hubs and an energy component that could include oil and gas pipelines.

On May 16, the competition of designs for building a rail and road network with Turkiye was announced by the Director General of the Public Company for Rail in Iraq, Younus Khalid.

“This is a giant and strategic project, the largest in Iraq and one of the largest projects of its kind in the region…It will complement the Faw Port project and will turn Iraq into a major logistics hub,” said Khalid.

The project is expected to  be completed in 2028 or 2029 and will largely boost Iraq’s trade with Europe via Turkiye.

L’article Iraq launches $17bln road and rail project to connect Asia and Europe est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

This boat was once one of the Iraqi dictator’s greatest symbols of wealth and power. With a length of 120 meters and a weight of more than 7000 tons, the former presidential yacht had been assembled in Finland and delivered to Iraq in 1983. Although Hussein bragged about it as a prized token for himself, the curious thing is that he never actually used it.

When it was owned by the former president, no one could come close to it.

Hussein Sabahi, fisherman

After the invasion of Iraq by US troops in 2003, Saddam Hussein ordered the yacht to be moved to Basra for better care. However, the Americans, upon learning of this fact, attacked the luxury yacht in the Basra canal and left it adrift. Now the yacht has become a meeting point for tourists and fishermen who often gather to have picnics and take pictures on it.

In photos taken in 2003, the Al-Mansur is seen floating in the river with its upper deck blackened by a fire caused by the bombing. The ship began to tilt in June of that year and capsized when the engines were stolen. This created openings and water entered, whereupon she lost balance and sank. “When it was owned by the former president, no one could come close to it,” fisherman Hussein Sabahi told CNN. “I can’t believe that this belonged to Saddam and now I’m the one moving around it.”

Anchored at a dock near the Al-Mansur, the Basrah Breeze, is equipped with swimming pools and at one time a missile launcher. It is partially open to the public who want to visit this relic of the country’s recent past.

To the surprise of many visitors, Saddam never sailed on the 82-meter Basrah Breeze, which was yet another extravagance of the Iraqi dictator. The yacht’s presidential suite is decorated in shades of gold and cream, a king-sized canopied bed and plush 18th-century armchairs, and its large bathrooms have gilded faucets. Accommodating 30 passengers and 35 crew, the Basrah Breeze, delivered in 1981, has 13 bedrooms, three lounges and a helipad.

L’article Will Saddam Hussein’s yacht become a tourist attraction? est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The project is supported by the Swiss director Milo Rau, artistic director of the Ghent Theatre (NTGent), one of Europe’s leading drama scenes. Rau has already visited the war-torn north of Iraq several times since 2016.

Helping to create a Film Department in Mosul might seem exceptional for a European theater scene but it is the logical extension of a collaboration that has been going on for years.

Milo Rau

The city of Mosul is a former stronghold of the Islamic State group, which was liberated in 2017, but is largely in ruins. In his 2019 play “Orestes in Mosul,” Milo Rau transposed Aeschylus’ Greek tragedy into a story confronting Iraqis with issues of homosexuality and misogyny. The play involving local actors was performed at the Mosul Cultural Center.

Several actors and Belgian film professionals such as the cameraman and filmmaker Daniel Demoustier are participating in the course. “The students have been trying out different roles as they pair up to make their films,” said Demoustier to Euronews.

All the equipment like lenses and sound gear brought in from abroad will stay with the goal for the students to pick it up again and start making their films on their own.

Daniel Demoustier, Belgian filmmaker

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This structural collaboration that starts between the two Belgian and Iraqi institutions is part of a vast project of UNESCO (“Revive the Spirit of Mosul”) which also focuses on the reconstruction of churches and mosques. The Paris-based UN agency launched the initiative in 2018.

L’article New film school in Mosul created in partnership with a Belgian theater company est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.