This project involves development of Grand Faw Port is at Basra Province in Southern Iraq. The new port would compete with the world's largest ports with a long-term goal to turn Iraq into a transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe. The new port will act as a bypass to the Suez Canal and is expected to significantly reduce the transportation time for cargo to reach Europe. The construction will be a 17 metres deep port with 7,000 metres of the dock for container ships and 3,500 metres of the dock for general cargo to reach a general capacity to handle 2 million TEU containers plus general units. The port will be developed in four stages. • Stage 0: this is the first stage and this will cover the construction of a 23-kilometre east breakwater. This stage has a budget of $412 million and will be funded by Iraqi government. It will be implemented this year. The $5.4 billion • Stage 1 will cover construction of a 3.5-kilometre-long container terminal and container bulk terminals. It also covers the dredging of 150 million cubic metres, construction of buildings and establishing a rail line to link the port with the national network. A $1.2 billion rail link is already planned to link Grand Faw Port with Basra. This line will be 101 kilometres long and have an annual capacity of 70 million tones. The project is currently in detailed design stage. • Stage 2 has a budget of $2.7 billion and will involve the construction of a container terminal and a bulk terminal. It will also cover dredging of 100 million cubic metres. • The final stage will involve developing the industrial area. There is no budget in place for this stage yet. Ultimate expectations are for the port to have (12) berths and to handle 99 million tonnes a year when completed.