French railway operator Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF)has been awarded the mandate to provide technical advisory services to Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO)on the expansion of the kingdom's railway network. The appointment of SNCF, which had been expected for some time, has already been approved by the Supreme Economic Council (SEC). SNCF joins the financial advisory team comprising National Commercial Bank (NCB)and UBS Warburg(MEED 12:12:03).
Under the advisory mandate, SNCF, NCB and UBS will provide services on two components of the railway expansion programme - the east-west railway, linking Riyadh with Jeddah, and the western railway, which will connect Jeddah, Mecca, Medina and Yanbu.
SRO still has to appoint a legal adviser, which will be mandated to make recommendations on changes to the legal and regulatory environment to allow private sector involvement in the railways. The legal adviser will also consult on the merger of SRO with the future concessionaire of the east-west link. Following the merger, SRO will effectively cease to exist and will be fully integrated in the private concession-holding company.
SRO also plans to invite consortia to prequalify in the second half of the year for the two railway concessions (Saudi Arabia, MEED Special Report, 19:12:03, pages 45-47).
You might also like...
Global AI market to top $1tn in 2030
25 April 2024
Morocco tenders Noor Midelt 2
25 April 2024
Saudi Arabia's Roshn launches Aldanah Dhahran project
25 April 2024
Kuwait retenders revegetation contracts
25 April 2024
A MEED Subscription...
Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.
