As reported by Reuters a five-year project for French engineering group Alstom to build an above-ground urban metro line in Baghdad will cost $1.5 billion and be funded by the French government and banks, according to Iraqi officials. The planned line, with a capacity to carry 30,000 passengers an hour, will have 22 km of track and 14 stations linking northern Baghdad districts with the city centre.

France's Alstom signed a memorandum of understanding for the deal in January. A follow-up agreement signed in Baghdad on 30 May paved the way for French financing for the project.

"The company has obtained agreement from several French banks and the French government to implement this project," Shaker al-Zamili, head of the Baghdad Investment Commission, told Reuters.

A final accord on the Baghdad metro project would have to be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, he added. The loan would be repaid by Iraq after the railway started operating, through a mechanism yet to be determined, Zamili added.

Iraq's roads, railways, ports and power plants have been badly decayed by years of war, economic sanctions and underinvestment.

Alstom is a large French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. Alstom is active in the field of hydroelectric power generation, in conventional islands for nuclear power plants, and in environmental control systems. Alstom is also present in the urban transport market, and is behind regional train models, signaling infrastructure equipment, and a number of associated services.