$250b Gulf Rail project will go ahead: GCC assistant secretary general

DUBAI: The $250 billion, 1,200km rail project will go ahead, Abdullah Bin Juma Al Shibli, GCC Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs, told delegates at the Middle East Rail Conference on Tuesday.

In February, Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Infrastructure Development, said the project’s 2018 completion date was unrealistic and declined to comment on whether it would go ahead.

Government spending in the Gulf states has been cut back over the last 18 months amid declining oil prices.

At the rail conference at Dubai International Convention Centre on Tuesday, Al Shibli did not discuss a final completion date, but said the technical specifications and the legal framework of the cross-border regional rail network would be complete by the end of 2016.

“Twelve hundred kilometres of railway will be established,” he said, adding that the GCC was committed to completing the project in accordance with international best practices.  “Some members have already completed their phases,” he said. “The GCC has pledged ongoing support to this project through partnerships with the private sector.”