HRH Faisal bin Bandar chairs the 11th meeting of the Supervisory Committee for Public Transport Project
On November 23, 2016, HRH Prince Faisal Bin Bandar, Chairman of High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh and Chairman of Supervisory Committee for King Abdulaziz Public Transport Project, chaired the 11th meeting of the Committee in the presence of HE Abdullatif bin Abdulmalik Al Shaikh, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, HE Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance, and HE Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan, Minister of Transport.
Speaking to the press, HRH Riyadh Gov. said, “We discussed with the Committee members the functioning of the project which is progressing well with 45% already completed,” adding that “acceleration of work is expected in the next phase”.
He pointed out that the meeting discussed many key issues related to the public transport project including the future management and operation strategies, which must meet aspirations of the people and ensure the project, once completed, is sustainable.
According to HE Engr. Ibrahim Al-Sultan, member of the High Commission for Development of Arriyadh and President of Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA), the meeting was briefed on the overall progress of works of Riyadh Metro Project, which include completion of over 40 km of tunnels, 45 km of bridges and 16 km of surface tracks, in addition to completion of the majority of deep tunnels, and construction works of the boarding and maintenance stations, control and operation center, and main stations.
He also noted that metro vehicles production continues with 41 trains already complete to date.
During the meeting, a presentation was also made on a number of relevant studies prepared by the High Commission including:
- Study of land uses and development regulations for the surroundings of public transport stations
- Study of the institutional structure for Riyadh Public Transport Department
- Study of incentive measures for encouraging use of public transport in Riyadh
The meeting was also briefed on the efforts to localize the public transport sector. It is noteworthy that the project has witnessed a significant increase in the number of Saudi cadres employed by the consortiums working on the project (BACS, Arriyadh New Mobility and FAST). Since its inception, about 1430 Saudi youth have joined the project in various engineering, technical, and administrative roles.