Progress stalls on Mecca Mass Rail project

03 May 2012

Rail development slows amid rumours of government review

Progress on the development of the Mecca Mass Rail Transit (MMRT) project has stalled amid suggestions that the procurement of the scheme is being reviewed by the government.

Sources close to the project, which is expected to cost several billion dollars to develop, say that work on the project has virtually ground to a halt since the beginning of the year. There are suggestions that the funding of project, which was planned as a public private partnership (PPP) is under review by the Finance Ministry.

“We have not done any work on it since the beginning of the year,” says one source involved in the project. “We heard several months ago that it was being reviewed by the Finance Ministry, but have heard nothing since.”

“There is nothing official, so at the moment it is still a PPP, but our understanding is that the Finance Ministry is looking at it,” says another source involved in the project.

In a statement announcing the project in August 2011, Al-Balad al-Ameen, the development arm of Mecca Municipality, says “PPP contracts are preferred for some or all of the packages”.

The first packages for the project were expected to go to the market seeking private sector interest late last year, but that has so far failed to occur. A market sounding is understood to have already been completed in 2011.

In March 2011, Ernst & Young, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Ashurst were appointed to advise the municipality on the project.

The MMRT project will consist of four lines and will run for about 113 kilometres around Mecca city centre with about 24 stations. It is designed to help transport pilgrims around the city, especially during the busy Hajj period. Mecca’s population is also expected to expand from about 1.7 million people to three million people by 2035.

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