.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
 Doka.jpg)
A major rail expansion in Saudi Arabia is expected to go ahead, after the government dropped a demand that the builder would have to pay billion-dollar compensation bills towards land used by the project.
'The Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry has worked out an agreement with the concerned government agencies under which the contractor would not have to pay compensation for government or private properties acquired for the project," secretary-general Osama Kurdi said.
However, Kurdi did not say who would compensate the property owners.
A consortium of Saudi, Canadian, German and Austrian companies have proposed building the multi-billion-riyal project on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis.
The project, which will link the Kingdom's eastern coast with the western coast and the northwestern part of the country with the capital Riyadh, is projected to cost more than SR12 billion ($3.2 billion). It is also aimed at increasing transport facilities to the Kingdom's untapped mining areas.
At least SR4 billion of this will be required to pay compensation to real estate owners, according to World Bank estimates.
Efforts are now under way to set up four independent companies to undertake the construction and operation of railways.
