There can be no Gulf railway network until GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) member states have established national networks, President of Saudi Railways Organization (SRO), Khaled Al-Yahya, said yesterday.
The Kingdom’s rail network will be completed within the forthcoming five years, he told Arab News on the sidelines of the Gulf Traffic and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Rail 2003 Congress in Dubai.
He expressed hope that the five other Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would complete their networks by then and be prepared for the proposed inter-GCC rail network. “We have to be realistic and recognize that before connecting a group of countries with a rail network we have to have internal networks in place,” Al-Yahya said.
Al-Yahya said that the private sector would be heavily involved in the Kingdom’s railway on a “build, operate and transfer” basis. He said that international investors have shown a huge interest in the project. Likely investors include Saudi and international construction companies, equipment suppliers, shipping lines and rail operating companies.
In June 2002, the Saudi Supreme Economic Council approved an implementation program for SRO privatisation, and authorized SRO to conduct a selection process for financial, technical and legal advisers for the project.
Al-Yahya said that the overall cost of SRO projects could not be determined at this stage, “because we are still studying various technologies for the project, and we wish to select the best,” he said.
Source: SPA
