Qatari Minister of Transport Jassem Al-Sulaiti on Monday reaffirmed his country's commitment to the schedule of the implementation of the GCC railway network, due to go operational by 2018.
"The developers of this mega project in the GCC member states are working closely together to lay out the designs of project; this process is well underway and will complete this year," the minister told reporters.
Al-Sulaiti made the comments on the sidelines of the IATA's 70th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit, being hosted by Qatar Airways (QA).
"Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have already made good progress, compared with other GCC countries, in the development of technical and feasibility studies and offering them to bidders," he pointed out.
"The meeting of the GCC ministers of transport and communication in Bahrain two months ago was a step forward towards the implementation of the project," he recalled, noting that undersecretary of the Bahraini Ministry of Transportation will be visiting Doha on Thursday for technical talks on the project.
On the route of the GCC railways, he said it will start from Kuwait, proceed southward to Dammam city - Saudi Arabia, where it will bifurcate eastward to Bahrain and Qatar, and southward towards Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE, and Muscat, capital of Oman