UAE- New timeline for 2177 km GCC rail project: paper

2/28/2016 7:34:19 AM

(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))

ABU DHABI 28th February (WAM) --- As part of an ambitious plan to go ahead with the mega GCC railway project in a "more realistic" manner despite weak global oil prices GCC transport ministers will hold their meeting in Riyadh Saudi Arabia next month a newspaper reported. The meeting is significant because of the fact that the project will not be possibly completed by 2018 as announced earlier it said.

The GCC railway plan may be delayed or exacerbated by the huge reduction in the price of oil according to an industry report cited by the Saudi newspaper Arab News.

"The 2018 self-imposed completion date has been looking increasingly unrealistic due to the difficulty in getting the six countries to coordinate their plans for the project" the report published in the latest issue of the International Railway Journal said.

The paper cited the decision by the UAE's Etihad Rail early this year to suspend the second phase of its national railway network and noted that the suspension has also prompted Oman to rethink their priorities in railway sector.

A reliable source told the Jeddah-based English-language paper that the GCC transport ministers will focus on how to kickstart the 2177-km GCC railway project how to fund it and what should be the real date of completion.

The GCC train would also link Qatar with Bahrain via the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway to be established between them and from Saudi Arabia through Al-Batha to the UAE (Abu Dhabi-Al Ain) and then to end up in Oman across Sohar to Muscat.

Some of the GCC member states have not achieved the desired level of progress on the project according to the paper.

WAM/MMYS

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