Dromex is a polish company , known as Budimex Dromex now in Poland : https://m.budimex.pl/en.html the company work in Libya in building roads from 1968 to 1977 for more than 4000 KM of roads Then work in Iraq Also with highway roads part of it in Basra and Nassereyah south of Iraq which known as Highway 1 which connect South Iraq from the boarder with Kuwait to the border of Jordan and Syria .. Enjoy the photos of the heavy trucks MAN diesel and Styer 91 : comment :une 1, 1987 - construction of the Baghdad-Basra highway. Steyr with the trailer "made in Dromex Iraq" during the unloading of the bridge span. The photo shows a group of Polish engineers (including my Dad) employed in the construction of the motorway. A photo stuck together from two. Unfortunately, I was unable to add the city of Al-Basra, so I named Warsaw as the Dromex headquarters.
Above: a newsreel showing the Polish construction site in Iraq
In 1979, a huge investment began in Iraq. It was the construction of highway 1, connecting Baghdad with Kuwait, Jordan, Syria and the Iraqi coast of the Persian Gulf. The length of the planned route was 1,250 kilometers, of which 800 provided three lanes in each direction. In total, 80 bridges had to be constructed, 200 parking lots were prepared and about 100 kilometers of canals were to be dug. The construction site was also divided into ten sections, each of which was to be built at the same time. Thanks to this, the Iraqi project has become one of the boldest road investments in the world, delighting with its very fast pace.
A company from West Germany was chosen as the main contractor. However, the works on individual fragments were divided among a whole group of specialists from Europe, Asia and South America. Among them was also the Polish company Dromex, responsible for the 145-kilometer section. It was to connect the cities of Nasiriya and Rumaila, and it was created in 1980-1987.
The Iraqi construction was in its time the largest Polish foreign investment. To implement it, huge amounts of equipment, building materials and professionals were needed. Dromex, among other things, had to set up its own railway line, over 50 kilometers long. The company also had to provide water and electricity, as much of the work was simply done in the desert. In order to transport directly to the construction site, Dromex brought over three hundred trucks with tippers to Iraq.
When carrying out its construction works in the Middle East - in Libya, or just in Iraq - Dromex bought trucks of two types. These were MAN 26,281 with an engine in front of the cabin and Steyry 91, in both cases combined with tippers. Interestingly, many of these vehicles were equipped with air conditioning and hydraulics of the Dutch brand Hyva. So you can say that it was a very high-class equipment, especially considering the conditions of the Polish People's Republic.
And who was driving these trucks? Of course, Poles who went to the Iraqi construction site by hundreds. An example here is Jan Bartczak from Gryfino, who is the author of the photos below. Mr. Jan found his way to the transport industry in 1968, when he was employed at PKS Szczecin. For two years he gained experience in the right seat and in the workshop, and then he got behind the wheel himself. He toured several Old Towns, several Jelcz, and even the Spanish Pegaso, and in the mid-1980s he was offered a contract to Iraq.
First, Mr. Bartczak was responsible for transporting the new Steyers to the workplace. As is typical for the 70's and 80's, trucks were sent to the Middle East simply on wheels. They were taken there via Yugoslavia and Turkey, and then returned to Europe by plane to pick up the next set. However, when Mr. Bartczak made two such routes, he was already offered a ride in Iraq. So he stayed there for a year and a half, driving one of the Steyers in a typical construction transport.
On the spot, the Pole had to deal with extreme climate and extremely dangerous natives. The latter were friendly to the builders, but there was one major problem with them - they did not respect any rules of the road. This is why over 40 Polish workers died during the construction of the highway in Iraq, most of them in road accidents. It is also worth mentioning that at the time when the Poles were building the motorway, only a few dozen kilometers away was the front of the Iraqi-Iranian war of 1980-1988.
Fortunately, Jan Bartczak survived those eighteen months without any serious events. He also worked in transport for the rest of his career, in recent years driving oversized sets. Today, however, he enjoys his retirement and can recall such views:
