SANA’A, Jan 18 (Bernama) — Yemeni Transport Minister Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazir said his country will launch a railway linkage project in July to connect its territories with the Gulf Arab countries, its news agency Saba cited pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV as reporting on Sunday.

Al-Wazir said the government is currently negotiating a number of international firms specialized in railways to carry out the project worth about US$3.5 billion.

The network will be set up according to a 35-year-contract on the basis of the Build, Operate and Transfer (B.O.T.) system, he was quoted by the report as saying.

The network will run from the Yemen-Saudi borders in northern Yemen to the Aden Port in southern Yemen and stretch to the northeast to join the Gulf railways network through Oman, according to the report.

The new line which is to extend 2,500 km in Yemeni territories will be used to transport goods and passengers between Yemen and the six Gulf countries, said the report.

The project once completed will form a ribbon-like shape around the six Gulf countries and Yemen, extending from north in Saudi Arabia to south in Yemen then to east where it will pass towards north through Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

– BERNAMA