The project formed part of NIRAS’ contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark concerning the reconstruction of Iraq. Being developed in close cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, the project has developed a framework for Iraq’s future physical planning.
With contributions from more than 30 employees from six business units at NIRAS as well as colleagues from both the UK and Iraq, the project is one of the largest projects completed by NIRAS Planning in recent years. The project period had a duration of a mere three months and has been completed over summer – so it has been a great challenge to get all the pieces to fall into place before the presentation of the project to the Deputy Minister of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning at a workshop in Amman in the last week of August.
An Outline Spatial Strategy for Iraq is an overall spatial development plan for the country. Together with the recently adopted National Development Plan the plan is to form the basis of the future overall physical planning in Iraq. However, the plan does not compare to a national planning report in a traditional Danish sense. The context alone – physically, culturally and historically – means that we had to think differently from what we normally do. The plan comprises detailed national reports in relation to Iraq’s economy, demography, geography, urban development, traffic, health, infrastructure, industry, tourism, agriculture and natural resources. For each of these elements the primary challenges as well as an implementation strategy have been described.
NIRAS’ considerable experience from developing holistic plans and master plans in Denmark has made us qualified for the task; and we are now in close dialogue with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning about continuing the process.
Contact
Peter Frost-Møller, Team Manager
pfm@niras.dk
+45 8732 3283 / +45 3016 9297