The land so far acquired is close to the Royal Lounge, Haj Terminal, Tahliyah and Al-Sulaimaniyah bridges. “Ninety-nine percent of the real estate that has been valued so far belonged to Saudi citizens. They consisted of buildings, villas and empty lands,” said Al-Saqr.

He added that the pricing of real estate in the Al-Harazat and Al-Quwaizah districts, in addition to locations parallel to the Al-Haramain Expressway after the

Al-Haramain gas station, would continue over the next few days.

“This may take the committee a month and a half,” he added.

It was recently rumored that work on some parts of the project, especially in areas along the path of the proposed project, had been halted following a desire to review certain aspects of the project. A source at Jeddah municipality, however, denied this was true.

“It is the Ministry of Transport or the Saudi Railways Organization that announces or decides halt in work on the project," he said.

The source, however, said the municipality did have criticism of the route of the proposed train track and that this had been conveyed to the relevant bodies and published in the local media. “There is still ample time to consider and study these observations,” he added.

A number of private sector officials involved in the project declined to answer questions on the alleged halt in work.