Abu Dhabi: The Meed Mena Rail & Metro Summit, due to kick off at the Beach Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday will highlight opportunities in the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region’s $225bn rail, metro, tram and bus rapid transit (BRT) capital investment programme to 2030.
Philippe Casgrain, vice president for Europe, the Middle East & Africa at Bombardier Transport will open the summit with a presentation outlining the key challenges those involved delivering hundreds of billions of dollars of railway projects face in the Middle East region. Joining the opening keynote session at the Meed Mena Rail & Metro Summit will be representatives of major urban rail, tram and BRT programmes.
The conference will bring together almost 50 expert speakers representing government and private businesses in the GCC, the wider Middle East and the world who will address the event with over 300 delegates expected to attend.
Figures provided by Meed Projects show that there are now 108 separate railway, metro, monorail, tram and BRT projects under bid, under design or under study in 14 Mena countries. More than 50 of them with a combined value of almost $140bn are in the GCC.
Saudi Arabia has the greatest potential with projects worth $50bn due to be completed by 2025, Meed Projects show. One of the biggest issues is pressure on the Middle East project supply chain and competing demands for steel, cement and skilled labour from other sectors of the region’s booming projects market. About $2.2 trillion of projects are under bid, design or study, about half of this figure in the GCC. QNA
