Ministers to discuss ‘realistic’ date for completion of GCC rail network

The 2,177-kilometre GCC rail project was initially scheduled to open in 2018, but it is widely believed that it will be delayed as governments reduce spending on less crucial infrastructure.

GCC ministers will meet in Riy­adh next month to discuss a “realistic” date for the completion of a railway network that connects all six member countries, the UAE’s Minister of Infrastructure Development said yesterday.

The US$25 billion, 2,177-kilometre GCC rail project was initially scheduled to open in 2018, but it is widely believed that it will be delayed as governments reduce spending on less crucial infrastructure amid consistently lower oil prices.

In October, the UAE announced a trimmed federal budget for this year, and in December Ministry of Finance data showed that government spending fell by 21.6 per cent in the three months to September compared with the same period in 2014.

In Dubai yesterday, Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, said that he had asked his counterparts in the GCC to “be more realistic” in terms of the 2018 deadline for the project.

The topic of the GCC rail project will be high on the agenda at the GCC meeting, he said.

His remarks come a month after Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s nat­ional rail network, said that it had suspended the tendering process for the second stage of the project. The 628km second stage was intended to link Khalifa and Jebel Ali ports to the ­Saudi border at Ghweifat and the Omani border at Al Ain.

Etihad Rail, which is developing the country’s Dh40 billion, 1,200km rail network, has completed the 266km first stage. So far, 4 million tonnes of sulphur from Shah and Habshan has been taken by train to the port of Ruwais on behalf of Abu ­Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) for export.

Speaking about the completion of the GCC rail project, Mr Al Nuaimi said: Now for us we cannot go any further, we don’t want to have a redundant network where we are cut off. Now, we have to wait for a realistic programme to continue with the progress.”

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