Baghdad masterplan will bring investment

Baghdad’s first modern masterplan, passed into law in 1971, was intended to underpin the city’s development through to 1990. The study stressed the need to constantly review the plan to maintain “the dominant position of Baghdad in the Arab World”, and its appeal as “the cradle of several ancient civilisations”.

It is a mark of Iraq’s turbulent recent history that this study remains the basic template for all subsequent infrastructure work. But that is about to change, with a fully updated masterplan for the Iraqi capital to be completed this year, laying out recommendations for the development of the city through to 2030.

Looking ahead, a comprehensive masterplan for the city demonstrates to potential foreign investors that the government has regained its grip on the capital’s future, wresting it back from the insurgents that threatened to plunge Baghdad into anarchy from 2004 to 2006.

The study needs to be matched by legislative changes, particularly to the national Investment Law, that will assure foreign groups of the security of their investments. Only large-scale foreign investment can ease Iraq’s reliance on international aid and oil revenues, and make the masterplan a reality.

Given Iraq’s history since 1971, and particularly since 2003, however, any reason to be cheerful must be seized upon, and the completion of the Baghdad masterplan, when it eventually happens, will be a small but significant step in the right direction.

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