JEDDAH, 27 January 2005 — Saudi Arabia will hold a business conference in London this Monday seeking international investment for a landmark SR10 billion railway expansion project linking the country’s east coast with its west and changing the region’s shipping patterns.
Transport Minister Dr. Jabara Al-Seraisry will preside over the conference organized by the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO), which aims at promoting the plan among potential investors to build more than 1,000-km of new tracks across the Kingdom.
Dr. Al-Seraisry, who is chairman of SRO, and his team of experts will answer queries of international companies and investors interested in the project.
SRO plans to construct a 950-km railway track between Jeddah and Riyadh, tying into an existing line between Riyadh and Dammam. It also wants to build another railway running 115-km north from Dammam to Jubail Industrial City.
The Supreme Economic Council has already approved the project, which is to be implemented through private sector participation on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. SRO has acquired adequate land for implementing the plan.
The new railway linking the Arabian Gulf with the Red Sea would reduce shipping time for goods originating in Europe and North America and destined for Gulf markets.
SRO officials expect the London conference would attract key players in related industries and other prospective investors in order to form consortiums to bid for the project, which also intends to modernize existing railway lines in the country.
The Kingdom has already appointed a consortium consisting of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the National Commercial Bank to provide financial advisory services for the project.
Official sources have estimated the cost of the project at between SR8 billion and SR10 billion. According to Khaled Al-Yahya, president of SRO, the much-talked-about east-west landbridge project would take three years to complete.
Riyadh and Dammam are currently linked by two lines — a 556-km single track built in the 1950s, used only by freight trains, and the other a 449-km single track built in the 1980s, used exclusively by passenger trains. Annual traffic volume over the existing network amounts to about 300 million passenger/km and one billion ton/km of cargo.
The new project will transform the existing rail network into a world-class freight and passenger rail link across the country. It will have the capability of moving large quantities of cargo over long distances at competitive rates and will offer safe, comfortable and fast overland passenger transport between the country’s four major economic centers.
