GCC Rail construction to begin in 2021, says UAE minister

Construction of the GCC railway network has been delayed to begin in 2020-2021 from 2018, Abdullah Balheif Al Nuaimi, the United Arab Emirates’ Minister of Infrastructure Development, told Al-Khaleej newspaper on Sunday.

The delay came as the GCC’s transport ministers have said that more time is needed to establish the rail network in line with the best specifications.

The UAE is willing to implement the project, Al Nuaimi said, adding that almost 160 kilometers of railways are currently in use and could be utilized for the new system.

Insufficient funding had been earlier said to be the main obstacle to completing the 2,117 km-long mega-project, which will link all six GCC countries.

The project will be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) model and will be implemented by the Saudi transport ministry.