JEDDAH, 25 August 2003 — Transport Minister Dr. Jabara Al-Seraisry has formulated plans to privatize and reorganize the transport system within the Kingdom’s cities.
“The development of urban transport will be carried out by the private sector as the government wants to increase private sector participation,” he said.
Al-Seraisry also unveiled plans to construct a four-lane road linking Taif and Abha at a cost of SR3 billion. He has asked the authorities to complete a study of the project as quickly as possible.
“The ministry is now working on a new system in coordination with related government agencies in order to develop and promote transport within cities,” he told Al-Jazirah newspaper.
Transport within cities does not come under the direct jurisdiction of the ministry but is supervised by a number of public and private agencies. “All parties are working to reorganize city transport systems in order to present the plan to private investors,” the minister said.
Al-Seraisry highlighted the capability of the private sector to operate transport within cities. “I am not satisfied with the present situation, and hope the new system will bring positive changes,” he said.
Referring to plans for tolls on highways, Al-Seraisry said the matter had been presented to the Shoura Council for study. He said the current national budget had allocated large amounts of money to construct new roads. At present there are 46,683 km of roads in the Kingdom. Al-Seraisry recently signed a series of contracts worth SR1.65 billion with 29 companies for the maintenance of roads and highways.
The minister recently inspected the Taif-Riyadh Expressway and the Taif-Abha Road plus a number of other roads in Taif. An official source at the Transport Ministry told Al-Watan that the Taif-Baha-Abha-Jizan road with a total length of 820 km would cost SR3 billion.
The minister has urged the authorities to speed up studies on the new road so as to include the project in the next national budget. The study and design for the project will cost an estimated SR6.42 million. “The study is in the final stage,” the source said.
Referring to the increase in the project’s cost, the source said it was mainly because the road passes through the Sarawat mountains and a number of cities and towns. Owners of land acquired for the project must also be paid compensation.
The ministry has already expanded 16 km of the road in Taif, 14 km in northern Baha and 10 km in southern Baha. The present narrow road was built in 1963. There have been a number of calls to expand the narrow road because of the large number of people killed in traffic accidents on the southern road.
