JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is to help build a rail project in Jordan as part of a 500 million-dinar ($705 million) joint investment.
The Saudi-Jordan Investment Fund Company and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday to connect the ports of Aqaba on the Red Sea with Ma’an.
Upon completion, the railway will operate along a 195-kilometer (121-mile) track, transporting cargo containers to and from Aqaba, Jordan’s only outlet to the sea, as well as phosphate from the mines in Shidiya for export, Bloomberg reported.
The Jordan-Saudi fund was formed in 2016 as a partnership between the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which holds a 90 percent stake, and 16 Jordanian banks that own the rest.
