MEED reported that Beirut based Dar al Handasah will complete the preliminary design work for Jordan Railway’s proposed 960 kilometers long rail network by the end of 2009.

Mr Nayef Rawashdeh director of the railways department at Jordan’s Transport Ministry said that “It is 90% complete.”

Dar is determining the route and calculating the potential revenues the estimated JOD 4.5 billion railways will generate. The network will run the length of the country from the southern Red Sea port of Aqaba to the Syrian border with 2 spur lines running to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Rawashdeh said that the government has yet to finalize the procurement model for the project. Maybe we will use build operate transfer. We could also use design build operate transfer.”

French bank BNP Paribas is leading an international advisory team for the project. Canada’s CPCS Transcom is the technical consultant while US law firm Chadbourne & Parke and Jordan’s IB Law will provide legal support. In September, Amman decided to directly fund the JOD 236 million Amman Zarqa part of the rail network after terminating the contract of the consortium charged with building the line in April 2009.

Jordan already has 2 railways: the Aqaba Railway which transports phosphate and other mining products to the port of Aqaba and the Hijaz Railway which is not currently in operation.

(Sourced from MEED)