Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Transportation and Communications Ano Jawhar Abdoka on Friday denied reports that an agreement had been reached between Baghdad and the KRG on the Development Road project.
“We would like to inform the Kurdistan and Iraqi public that these statements are incorrect and do not reflect the truth,” he posted on X.
No Agreement Has Been Reached with the Iraqi Federal Government Regarding the Development Road Project
— Ano Abdoka ܐܢܘ ?آنو (@AnoAbdoka) March 27, 2025
In recent days, statements have been published and attributed to officials in the federal government, claiming that an agreement has been reached between the Kurdistan Regional… pic.twitter.com/gzzBbao515
“Reaching a final route for the project within the geography of the Kurdistan Region and surrounding areas depends entirely on the willingness of our federal counterparts to work with us as one professional team, with a unified vision that serves all citizens across the country. We will not compromise the constitutional rights of our people,” Abdoka underlined.
On March 22, Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, also posted on X that “any attempt to bypass or undermine the Kurdistan Region will fail.
“Iraqi officials, observers, and diplomats must understand the context. Saddam tried (and failed) years ago by attempting to create a direct land bridge from Mosul to Turkey, effectively severing the Kurdistan Region. It failed.
Read More: PM Barzani Stresses Kurdistan’s Inclusion in Development Road Project
“The alternative, as Prime Minister Barzani has said on record, is to go through the eastern side of the Tigris River, i.e., through Duhok. You could also expand the existing border crossing at Ibrahim Khaleel, which remains below full capacity,” he added.
Any attempt to bypass or undermine the Kurdistan Region will fail.
— Aziz Ahmad (@azizkahmad) March 22, 2025
Iraqi officials, observers, and diplomats must understand the context.
Saddam tried (and failed) years ago by attempting to create a direct land bridge from Mosul to Turkey, effectively severing the Kurdistan… https://t.co/vLbaE5UIt7
“The viability of the Development Road project is subject to considerable doubt, given the confluence of technical limitations, fiscal constraints, political instability, and pervasive corruption in Iraq,” Yerevan Saeed, Director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University, told Kurdistan Chronicle.
“The protracted dispute between Erbil and Baghdad further illustrates the structural and political impediments that compromise the success of large-scale infrastructural initiatives. If implemented in its current design – excluding the Kurdistan Region – the project would not be less than a calculated strategic move employed by Baghdad to marginalize the Kurdistan Region’s economic prospects and, by extension, curtail Erbil’s political autonomy.”
The Development Road project is a 1,200-kilometer strategic railway and highway project that will connect Turkiye and Iraq to their neighbors and the rest of the world through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines.
