October 12, 2008

KGL Passenger wins Sharjah transport tender

An ambitious plan to establish a modern public transport system in Sharjah was unveiled by KGL Passenger Transport Services of Kuwait which has won the Sharjah Public Transport Corporation tender for the project.

Mr Fahad Al Awadhi GM of KGL Passenger Transport Services, while addressing signing ceremony, said that the project would cover 19 service routes, 9 service stations, and 142 specially equipped buses ultimately carrying 80,000 passengers per day.

Mr Awadhi said that “This project aims at operating a wide bus transportation network in Sharjah that will cope with the emirate's large growth in population over the past few years. It seeks to reduce the traffic jams and develop a common transportation service for everyone to use and is a development of great importance to Sharjah's status as an emirate that offers first-class public transport for residents and tourists alike. Ever since our company was eligible to enter the bidding, we created different consultation cells to study the present and future transport demands in Sharjah, especially for inner city transport.”

He added that “We will launch at the end of the first quarter of 2008 with 3 main routes, to be followed by the completion of the rest of the routes by the end of the first year. The plan will be integrated in a phased manner that accommodates the nature of the roads, with the purpose of raising its efficiency so as to achieve the maximum benefits to traffic control and ease of movement. This starts with the project management team in Kuwait, which will run things according to the vision and desired targets set for this project. Another group will be recruited and trained to have similar goals. Here I would like to point out the fact that our company believes that no one holds the best interest of this country more than its citizens and that is why our company's main objective is to focus on Emiratisation.”

Sharjah Public Transport Corporation was established in November 2002 as the sole authority to determine the policies for all public transport services in the emirate. It has exclusive rights to regulate, control, and franchise all public transport services including taxis, intra emirate and inter-emirates mass transport, and city bus services. Sharjah Transport had issued a tender for the provision of bus services in Sharjah, with international and local companies competing for the rights, with the award being made in favor of KGL Passenger Transport Services for an 8 year franchise period.

KGL Passenger Transport Services is a multi modal passenger transportation solution provider for the public, private and commercial sectors in Kuwait and abroad. It successfully operates overland transportation throughout the MENA region including Hajj and Umrah, military and commercial bus services, taxi and limousine services, as well as public and school transport.