Iraq: Infrastructure
Chapter 3: Persian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula
Iraq: Infrastructure
Railroads, Roads
/ Waterways, Ports / Airports
/ Communications
Overview
/ Leadership / System Essentials
/ Population / Fielded Forces
/ Table of Contents
Cement factory in Basra. Iran's infrastructure is slowly being rebuilt.
Iraq has approximately 2500 km of standard gauge track running through the country. War damage repairs are still underway. Major links include Rabia (Syrian border) to Baghdad, Baghdad to Basra, and Umm Qasr to the Arabian Gulf.
Iraq's modern road system links the center of the country to all of its international borders. One of Iraq's most serious transportation problems following the Gulf War was repair of the many highway bridges destroyed or damaged during the conflict.
There are 1,015 km of inland waterways in Iraq. The Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km, while the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft watercraft. The Shatt al Basrah canal was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Persian Gulf war.
The ports at Umm Qasr and Al Basrah are Iraq's major commercial ports and constitute the natural distributing centers for overseas supplies. Al Basrah, and the lesser port at Khawar az Zubayr were closed during the Iran-Iraq conflict and have not reopened. Umm Qasr, damaged during the Gulf War, was reopened in November 1993.
Civilian and military airports were heavily damaged during the Gulf War. Iraq has 76 permanent-surface runways, 10 of which are over 3700 meters long. Iraq's international airports are at Bamerni (near Baghdad) and Basra. Saddam International is under construction in Baghdad.
Reconstitution of damaged telecommunication facilities began immediately after Desert Storm and most damaged facilities have been rebuilt. Iraq's communications network consists of the following:
