Canada’s Transglobim International has won the contract to build a monorail system in Najaf to accommodate increasing numbers of pilgrims.

Najaf and the nearby town of Karbala are both popular destinations for Shia pilgrims and they have shrines and monuments of religious significance.

Currently, about 70 million pilgrims travel to Najaf each year. The monorail will help to reduce congestion in the city and transport the pilgrims around the city more easily.

The monorail will be 37 kilometres long and is designed to link the three major mosques of Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahla.

Transglobim will finance, survey, design, construct and operate the monorail network for a period of 30 years.

Construction is expected to start this year and is scheduled to be complete in 2013. A second phase will see the monorail linked up to Najaf International airport.

Najaf Investment Commission is the client on the project.

Najaf metro will be the first transportation project of its kind in Iraq with plans for a metro network in Baghdad still in the early stages.

Baghdad Municipality is now planning to fund the $3bn metro scheme itself (MEED 8:6:10).

The authorities in Baghdad are still reviewing the technical studies for the metro project and the budget for the study.

Firms may be invited to bid for the feasibility study and design of the metro after Ramadan once the technical studies are complete.