JEDDAH, 31 January 2005 — Some 60 American, British and German companies are expected to participate in a business conference organized by the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) in London today to promote its landmark railway expansion project.
Transport Minister Dr. Jabara Al-Seraisry will open the conference, which is organized to attract international investment to build more than 1,000 km of new tracks linking the Kingdom east to west.
On arrival in London, Dr. Al-Seraisry said he expected a big turnout of investors at the conference to be held at UBS Bank headquarters.
“The participation of nearly 120 prominent personalities shows the desire of specialized international companies to enter into strategic partnership to finance and carry out the project,” he said.
Dr. Al-Seraisry, who is chairman of SRO, and his team of experts including Khaled Al-Yahya, SRO president, will answer queries of companies and investors interested in the project.
The minister put the project’s preliminary estimate at SR6.6 billion ($1.76 billion), much less than the previous figure of SR10 billion ($2.66 billion) given by SRO officials.
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.
Dr. Al-Seraisry said the project would be implemented by the private sector on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis and would be completed within five years. Companies will be invited to apply for prequalification during the next four months.
According to Al-Yahya, SRO has gone a long way to implement the prestigious project. “A tremendous amount of preparatory work for launching the tender for the BOT concession has been completed and we look forward to explaining our plans and ensuring that interested organizations can meet each other and consider how they want to participate in this very important multibillion-riyal project,” he said.
The Kingdom has already appointed a consortium consisting of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) to provide financial advisory services for the project.
