Implementation will be shorter than previously planned

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 10: The Ministry of Finance has agreed to grant the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport 500,000 dinars to cover the cost of contracting with a global consulting office for the “railroad” project, reports Al-Qabas daily. Informed sources stated that it was scheduled to allocate one million dinars for the global consulting contract, but the Ministry of Finance reduced the amount in half on the grounds there is already in place a previous study and the task of the new consultancy office was to review and amend it, in order to keep pace with the requirements of the project in accordance with the current government vision.

Informed sources revealed that the obstacles to the implementation of the railway lines and tracks project, including the project lines and tracks, have been reduced to only 8, pointing out that the ministerial committee supervising the follow-up of the implementation of major projects, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled, is expected to reduce obstacles.

Obstructed
The sources pointed out that contracting with a global consulting office and completing the study may reduce the obstacles related to the railway tracks, which are obstructed by lands belonging to government agencies, including the warehouses of the Kuwait Flour Mill Company, which is known to be wholly owned by the Kuwait Investment Authority.

The sources explained that the implementation of the railway project will be shorter than what was previously planned, with only the implementation of the “Gulf track” in the first phase, which is 111 km long and extends from the Nuwaiseeb port (Kuwait’s border with Saudi Arabia) to the Shadadiyah area, and contains 4 stations (maintenance, storage, loading of goods and for passengers), indicating that the expected execution period for implementation is estimated at 77 months, starting from the announcement of winning the bid by the contractor.

The railway project is of paramount economic importance, especially in terms of Kuwait’s commitment to agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to establish a unified railway track to link the Gulf countries among themselves to be one of the modern and safe means of transportation, whether for goods or passengers.

The sources identified the obstacles that hinder the railway tracks, which are as follows:

1 - The railway track crossed within the Scout camp of the Ministry of Education, located in the Kabd region.

2 - The presence of a land allocated for the warehouses of the Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Company in the precinct of the railway track.

3 - The Environment Public Authority found technical obstacles at the project implementation site.

4 - The Ministry of Information has websites that block network paths.

5- The railway crossing at the Research and Innovation Station intersects with the sites of three research projects.

6 - The services of the Ministry of Communications (the telephone network) extend parallel to the road (Sabah Al-Ahmad City, Al-Wafra Agricultural) and (Mina Al-Zour and Al-Wafra), and it is among the tracks designated for the railway network.

7- Land belonging to the Ministry of Defense.

8 - Crossing the railway track within the drakes located in the Kabd area and designated for the benefit of the Public Authority for Industry.

Informed sources said that the problem of the tracks lies in the land that obstruct the railways, which belong to government agencies, stressing the need for the ministerial committee supervising the follow-up to the implementation of major projects affiliated to the Council of Ministers to gather the officials of these agencies and solve this dilemma that has been facing the major development project