Iraqi port revenue surges as anti-corruption move bears fruit
Iraq’s key Umm Qasr Port has been positively affected by measures to reduce corruption, leading to a massive revenue increase in 2020 despite fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans for the massive, nearby Faw Port and an electronic system being put in place may also serve to shore up state coffers and reduce those of “outlaw” groups.
The road south to Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only deepwater port, passes the high walls and barbed wire of the infamous former Bucca prison as well gas flares on the horizon from extensive fossil fuel extraction in the country’s southern Basra province.
The Kuwaiti border is just west of Umm Qasr, while the regional capital, Basra, lies almost 60 kilometers (37 miles) north. To the southeast is the Faw peninsula, stretching to the Iranian border and site of a strategic project that has over the years suffered repeated delays but which may now be picking up momentum.
