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GCC Plans to Float $25 Billion Railway Project Tenders

“The tender for the project will be invited after the technical and financial committees of the GCC countries approve the project. We have not fixed a specific time-frame for inviting the tenders, though we hope the concerned committees will give their approval for the project within a next couple of months,” Mohammad bin Obeid Al Mazroui, GCC assistant secretary-general for economic affairs, told Khaleej Times here.

Asked whether there would a common tender for the entire project, or if each country would be inviting separate tenders for the stretch of rail line passing through their territories, Al Mazroui said, “This will be decided only after the design and other technical aspects are approved by the concerned committees. I’m sure there will be coordination at the GCC level. But the question of issuing a common tender for the entire project or separate tenders for each country has not been decided yet.”

He said the rail project is expected to be operational by 2017. But this date is a projection based on the current assessment of the project, and this time-frame is subject to change depending on the future situations, he clarified. Construction on the 2,117km-long railway line will commence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and extend to Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE. The project is also expected to make a critical contribution in the efforts to transform the GCC countries into a common market.

Obeid Al Mazroui declined to confirm the reports that the four GCC countries, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar would soon form the GCC Central Bank as a prelude to the formation of the GCC Monetary Union. “I have no information on that, but I think this might take some time as they have to work out the charter of the central bank and other procedures.”

· ramavarman@khaleejtimes.ae