The GCC railway project faces delay. <br>Image: Bigstock (for illustration only)

The multibillion-dollar GCC railway project, a long-distance network connecting the six GCC states, is likely to be delayed because of infrastructural and technical problems, reported Kuwait times, citing a senior official.

Of the GCC states, Saudi Arabia and Oman had gone a long way in domestically executing the project and linking some of the cities together with railroads, stated Abdul Raheem Naqi, the secretary general of the Federation of GCC Chambers.  

Bahrain had recently selected a specialised international company to execute the project that would initially start operating locally before connecting various states, he noted.

On the Kuwait scenario, Naqi said constructing the railway system in the country had faced many obstacles in recent years, primarily in terms of removing farms and other private property from the proposed route, in addition to making sure that the route does not conflict with existing oil facilities.
 
The construction work, which was set to start next year, will now kick off in 2020, he added.