Train project chugging along [Archives:2006/1005/Local News]

SANA'A, Dec. 5 ) Yemen is considering a railway that will run the entire length of the coast.

The proposed route will start in Haradh, on the Red Sea near the Saudi border, and then passing through Hodeidah, Aden and Mukalla before reaching Al-Ghaidhah, near the Oman border.

Yemen and the United Nations Economic and Social Committee for Asia and Pacific signed an agreement Dec. 2 to prepare a feasibility study for establishing the railway in Yemen.

The ultimate goal of the project is to link all area's countries via railway within the frame of implementation of International Railway Agreement for the eastern Arab area singed in 2003.

The current stage of the agreement was signed by Minister of Transport Omar Al-Amodi and Merft Tilawi, deputy of the U.N.'s Secretary General and executive director of UN Economic and Social Committee, known as ESCAP.

The Yemeni government will pay US $80,000 out of the total costs reaching US $134,000, with ESCAP contributing US $54,000.

The study will last for one year and a half and aims to estimate the total cost of the project together with the predicted economic returns against the required investments.
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