SR17bn for Saudi airport, road and railway schemes

The Kingdom has allocated more than $17bn for transportation projects in 2013, according to economic researchers.
Kuwait Financial Center “Markaz” recently published the executive summary of its report on Ƶ Roads and Railways.
In this report, Markaz examines and analyzes the current status of Ƶ Roads and Railways sector.
The report highlights the market structure, growth trends, investments and current and potential projects in Ƶ Roads and Railways sector.
The report also presents a SWOT analysis of Ƶ Road and Railways sector.
According to the report, Ƶ’s budget for 2013 has allocated a sum of $17.3 billion for Infrastructure and Transportation sector, an increase of 16 percent from previous year.
About $8 billion of this budget would be used in development of 3,700 km of roads, up gradation of existing and construction of new ports and airports.
The total value of projects that would be completed during 2013-2017 stands at about $25.5 billion.
From 1990 to 2011, the total length of asphalted and paved agricultural roads implemented by Saudi Ministry of Transport has grown by 11.22 percent per annum
Ƶ being the largest nation in the GCC also has a well-developed road and railways network.
Ƶ has in all 59,000 km of asphalted roads.
When compared to developed economies Ƶ’s roads seem a bit more congested.
The massive increase in traffic, an outcome of the Kingdom’s industrial and agricultural development, has made road upgrade a necessity.
Ƶ’s railways sector is in the phase of massive expansion.
Saudi Railways organization is responsible for construction and maintenance of Railway networks.
The existing Saudi railway network connects the port city of Dammam to the capital Riyadh.
The two lines currently operational are the 556 km–long single track line for the sole purpose of transporting freight, and the 449 km–long single track line for passenger trains.
Riyadh has maximum number of passengers either arriving to or departing from its station.
A large share of freight tonnage has been in transit between Damman and Riyadh state capital.
The total investment in railway sector from 2007-2013 amounts to around $7.9 billion.
The investments in Railways sector was predominantly on Railway Transport infrastructure and Rail Stations.
The investments on Rrail station transport terminals form about 4 percent of total investments in Railways projects.
The remaining 96 percent is in Railway Transport infrastructure.
Some large railway projects that are being planned or executed in Ƶ are the Land Bridge, the Haramain High Speed Rail Project, ADA — Riyadh Light Rail Transit (Riyadh Metro), MOT-Jeddah Metro: Orange & Blue Line, Madinah Municipality — Medina Monorail, SRO — Minerals Railway.