GCC prepares to float $25bn rail tender

The Gulf Cooperation Council is due to float a public tender for the strategic $25bn GCC joint railway network in the first quarter of the current year, Kuna has reported. The secretariat general of the council will assess the bidding companies and shortlist the number of potential winners to three or five, Mohammad Bin Obeid Al-Mazroui, the GCC assistant secretary general for economic affairs, said. The joint GCC 2,117km long rail network will be built according to a timetable to be set by the member states, with the aim of operating it as of 2017, he added. The network is planned to start in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia before construction of the lines linking up Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE.