‘Transport sector offers immense investment scope’
A senior government official has urged investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in the transport sector.
Abdulaziz Al-Ohaly, president of the Public Transport Authority (PTA), indicated that there are promising opportunities in the Saudi transport sector in the coming years.
He was speaking during the panel discussion on “At the crossroads, how Saudi Arabia can leverage its unique position and become a leader in global transport” at the GCF 2015, which ended in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The other panelists included Martin Powell, head of urban development, Siemens AG; Pierre Verzat, CEO of SYSTRA; Temel Kotil, president and CEO, Turkish Airlines; Fahad Al-Rasheed, CEO and managing director of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC); and Lord Peter Mandelson, British Labour Party politician and president of the International Think Tank Policy Network, who was the moderator.
Al-Ohaly called on investors to take advantage of the opportunities in projects that will come into force soon in construction and maintenance services, information technology, advertising and media consulting, support services and the supply of vehicles and equipment.
The PTA was established recently to ease the transport problems in all parts of the Kingdom, Al-Ohaly said, adding that the gov- ernment bears the maintenance and the operations costs of the authority.
“The objectives of the PTA focus on the regulation and supervision of public transport and encourage investment in this area and capacity building,” Al-Ohaly said. He noted that public transport contributes to the development of cities and facilitates the movement and job creation, and reduces the adverse environmental impact of the traffic congestion and waste of time on the roads.
He said the Kingdom is in the process of introducing a new transport system, which includes Metro rail, and enhanced road, maritime and air networks.
He said the Kingdom has developed transport networks between the cities. To ease road travel, he said, the Kingdom has signed several agreements with the neighboring countries to formalize the Custom regulations. Such projects including the new rail projects would generate employment opportunities for youths of the country.
Martin Powell said: "The rapid growth of the Kingdom's population has necessitated new transport programs to facilitate movement of people from one end to the other to do their daily and business work.
Temel Kotil said there is a movement of 30 million passengers traveling annually in and out of the country and therefore the Kingdom needs more airports to ease air travel, which will save the time of the people.