$30 billion inter-GCC rail network to be built by 2017

ABU DHABI: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region will have a railway network connecting all its member countries before the end of 2017, Council Secretary General Abdul Rahman Hamad Al Attiya, said on Tuesday.
Presenting the Council’s progress report, after the inaugural session of the 31st GCC Summit, Al Attiya said the proposed inter-GCC rail network would be developed with an estimated cost of $30 billion and would be completed by the end of 2017. He said initial work on the project had already been started.
The rail network will have both passenger and cargo trains to help further boost the region’s economy. Describing the project as one of the many joint initiatives, the outgoing GCC Secretary-General said: “We have to continue our efforts with greater cooperation in all fields as we have already established in 2003 unified custom system and shared Gulf market in 2008 as well as other projects.”
Al Attiya said the launch of the first phase of the GCC grid project had already been completed and the work on the second phase was under way.
The first phase of the grid with a $1.2 billion investment connects Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The second phase will connect the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, and the third will link the UAE’s grid to Saudi Arabia.
He said the Secretariat was working to complete necessary studies regarding the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes to implement the decision of the Supreme Council. He further added other projects were also under progress.
Meanwhile, the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) indicated on Tuesday that the region would sustain its exponential growth patterns with an estimated investment of $50 billion while the UAE was working to double its output in next five years.
GPCA Secretary General Dr Abdul Wahab Al Sadoun told a press briefing that the Gulf region would add close to 46 per cent of the current capacity of 105.7 million tonnes to raise the output to 154.3 million tonnes by 2015.
While the largest volume boost will be achieved by Saudi Arabia, from 53.2 million tones to 70 million, the UAE will more than double its petrochemicals production from 3.4 million tonnes to 7.8 million tonnes in five years, he said.
“Overall, by 2015, almost one-fifth of the total global output of petrochemicals and chemicals will be produced in the Gulf, making the region and Asia the two centres of gravity of the global industry,” Al Sadoun said.
He slammed India and China for levying duty on petrochemical exports from the region on the pretext of anti-dumping measures, and said that the GPCA was in talks with New Delhi to solve the issue.
GPCA Chairman and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation Vice Chairman Mohamed H Al Mady, stated his hope that the GPCA would strengthen coordination with the GCC governments to ensure that exports of petrochemicals and chemicals from the Gulf region were not restricted by anti-dumping regulations and other trade restrictions.