SAUDI ARABIA: Riyadh shoppers are treated to a high-tech display of the city metro project, which, with 176 kilometres of rail lines and electric, driverless trains, is the world's largest public transport system currently under development

Record ID: 189265

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: Riyadh shoppers are treated to a high-tech display of the city metro project, which, with 176 kilometres of rail lines and electric, driverless trains, is the world's largest public transport system currently under development
  • Date: 18th November 2013
  • Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (NOVEMBER 14, 2013) (REUTERS ) ABDULLAH AL-QAHTANI, SAUDI CITIZEN, LOOKING AT DISPLAY VARIOUS OF VISITORS TO DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAMAR ABDUL-KAREEM, PALESTINIAN GIRL, SAYING "The Metro is fast and beautiful and passes the malls." VISITOR FILMING DISPLAY RIYADH METRO TRAIN MODEL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SULIMAN AL-SALEM, SAUDI JOURNALIST, SAYING: "We thank The High Commission for the Development of Riyadh for this exhibition because it has introduced a beautiful and wonderful concept and provided employment opportunities, and we've been given a chance to watch this in this film that we've seen.''
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA38HWSBABRU3JK0ZZM8XTLUOAW
  • Story Text: Riyadh's metro project is being sold to its citizens via an educational and promotional exhibition in malls across the city that includes high-tech video, wall displays, and models of trains.
    Visitors to one of Riyadh's shopping centres on Thursday (November 14) were shown maps of the new transport system that will connect six districts of the city, and watched slick films showing visualisations of new stations, train technology and high line tracks on a 20-metre long electronic display panel.
    The Saudi Arabian government has awarded $22.5 billion in contracts to three foreign-led consortia for the design and construction of the first metro rail system in the capital.
    The project, which will involve six rail lines extending 176 kilometres (110 miles) and carrying electric, driverless trains, is the world's largest public transport system currently under development.
    Reaction to the project was overwhelmingly positive, with women being seen as a major beneficiary.

    "It will benefit women more than men, because men can drive, they can go here and there, but women can't, and it can help solve the traffic jams, especially as there are special places for women and men in the metro. I feel it's better than cars and drivers, and traffic jams,'' said one Saudi woman, Mai Mohammed.
    Design work will start immediately and construction will begin in the first quarter of 2014, the government says. The project is expected to be completed in 2019.
    The government says the project will be a major driver of employment and economic development and will also help to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

    "If this project is implemented I'll be the first user, I will park the car and use the metro, we used the metro in Europe and America, actually it really solves a big crisis, and it makes you feel more comfortable and easy to get around,'' Saudi artist, Nassir Al-Ahbabi, told Reuters television at the mall display organised by the High Commission for Development of Riyadh.
    Flush with cash after more than two years of high oil prices, Saudi Arabia is pumping billions of dollars into infrastructure projects designed to improve living standards and ease social discontent in the wake of the 2011 uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
    Last August the government approved a $16.5 billion plan to modernise the transport system in the holy city of Mecca, including creating a bus network and a metro system.
    It is also building several other rail systems, including a 2,750 km line running from Riyadh to near the northern border with Jordan.
    Saudi officials said Riyadh's population was projected to grow from 6 million to over 8 million in the next 10 years, making the metro vital to ease congestion and pollution in the capital's streets.
    In addition to raising living standards, the government says it wants to upgrade the country's infrastructure to help the economy diversify beyond oil, making it less vulnerable to any future plunge of global oil prices.
    While the metros are unlikely to persuade some Saudis to abandon their love for the automobile, others welcome the chance to escape severe traffic congestion in the big cities.

    "I will park my car and ride the metro, and have a break from driving and finish my business with less time and less expense," said visitor Abdullah Al-Qahtani.
    Despite the country's oil wealth, analysts estimate millions of people live near the poverty line, and they will have a financial incentive to use the systems.
    The metros may also have a social impact by making it easier for women to move around, in a country where they are not allowed to drive for religious reasons. The Riyadh metro carriages will have special "family sections" giving women privacy.

    "Since driving for women is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, it is natural that this project is important for us as women and I will be the first one to be using the metro," said Haya.
    The projects are part of an effort to improve social welfare for millions of poorer Saudis. Saudi Arabia escaped serious unrest in 2011, but it aims to ensure social peace by ramping up spending on hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.
    The metro systems could aid that drive by changing the way Saudi cities operate, helping them develop easily accessible commercial and light industrial districts which house companies outside the oil sector, while stimulating real estate projects and other investment along the rail lines.
    The Riyadh metro is projected to carry 1.16 million passengers daily when launched, increasing to nearly 3.6 million within 10 years - a significant fraction of all trips in the country, which currently has a population of about 28 million.
    The government has not said exactly how it will fund the Riyadh metro project, although bankers have been speculating about possible issues of sukuk (Islamic bonds) which could help to deepen the country's market in state-backed debt.
    After more than two years of high oil prices, financing is not expected to be a problem; the government's budget surplus in 2012 alone was 386.5 billion riyals ($103 billion).
    But assembling the labour force to complete the project on time may be a challenge, because the country has been tightening controls on its large population of foreign workers in an effort to reduce unemployment among Saudi citizens.
    A crackdown on illegal foreign workers caused tens of thousands of people to be deported or decide to leave the country this year. Fees designed to encourage companies to limit their use of foreigners, who are cheaper to hire than Saudis, have hurt profits at some Saudi construction firms.
    The metro systems may also help Saudi Arabia manage its oil resources more efficiently; only about 2 percent of Riyadh's 6 million population currently use public transport, leaving most of the rest dependent on gasoline-guzzling cars.
    The exhibition will go on display in different malls across the city and run for five days.
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