$ 3.5 bln to setting up railway in Yemen, says ESCWA study

SANA'A, Jan. 06 (Saba)-The cost of three-phase railway project in Yemen is $ 3.5 billion, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) study said.

Director of Economic Development Department and Globalization at ESCWA Nabil Safot
said that the study of setting up railway in Yemen comes within concern of the
member
countries with importance of linking Arab countries with railroad.
The Minister of Transport Khaled al-Wazir in a workshop - organized in Sana'a to
discuss the study, highlighted efforts exerted by the ESCWA in preparing the study,
saying
that such project would be turning point in the development process in the country.
The minister said that the project would help establish investment projects along
the track lines, in addition to connecting the resource with the international
routes.
It will connect the ports with the densely populated areas and the agricultural and
fishery production areas with the exporting ports and consumption markets, he
added.
Al-Wazir pointed out that the line would provide important economic gains to
Yemen, and will have its positive impacts on economic activities, such as the
mining, fishery,
agriculture, passengers and goods transportation and others, It also provides local
employment opportunities, the minister ensured.
Last December, the ministry of Transport announced that it had received offers from
36 world consultative firms competing for preparing tenders and contracts for the
project
that will link Yemen's 22 provinces and Yemen with the Arabian Gulf.
The railroads will operate with the BOT system and an international tender for it
would be made public for international private companies in the second half of
2010.
AH