KUWAIT CITY, 21 October 2004 — Transport ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have approved a feasibility study for the establishment of a multibillion-dollar railway network, the project coordinator said yesterday.
They “approved a preliminary study to build a railway network. The study shows the project is highly feasible and ... will have tremendous returns,” said Hamed Khajah, who is also Kuwait’s Communications Ministry undersecretary.
“The findings will now be sent to the GCC summit meeting in Manama next December for approval. There has been a consensus from member states on the importance of the project,” Khajah told AFP.
The ministerial approval came at a meeting in Kuwait City late Tuesday of the GCC.
The study, prepared by Kuwait’s Global Investment House, provides two options for the construction of a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) long railway between the Gulf emirate and Oman.
In one option, costing an estimated $4.5 billion, the link will exclude Bahrain, where residents can use the King Fahd Causeway link to eastern Saudi Arabia to join up with the Gulf railway.
The other option, estimated to cost $5.7 billion, starts from the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and runs through Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and ends in Oman, said Khajah.
If approved by GCC leaders, a detailed study on the project will be completed within a year, he said. Khajah said that based on preliminary estimates, the project would need two years of preparation and four years for construction.
