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Riyadh Gov. Prince Turki bin Abdullah.

Riyadh Gov. Prince Turki bin Abdullah chaired the 6th Regular Transport Project (metro and buses) meeting in his office at Qasr Al-Hokm on Thursday.

During the meeting, it was discussed that work on the project had begun, including conducting soil tests at the main stations, in addition to the preparation of the sites of the giant tunnel boring machines (GBMs)

The Riyadh governor is the head of the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh (HCDA) and the Supervising Committee of the King Abdulaziz Public Transport Project (metro and buses).

He explained that the next two years will witness an intensive amount of work and asked the residents of the capital city “to cooperate in the completion of the world’s biggest such project.”

He said that the traffic and diversion plan may be challenging for motorists in some areas but that the results of the project completion would be in favor of the citizens.

He also revealed that the preparation for the bus project’s first stage had started in southern Riyadh.
Ibrahim Al-Sultan, an HCDA member and Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) president , added that the meeting also reviewed the progress of work of the three participating consortia — Al-Riyadh New Mobility (ANM), FAST and BACKS — and the work scheduled for the third quarter of 2014.

He referred to the continuity of solid tests in addition to preparing the sites of the giant TBM and a number of lines, including the fifth line near the Ministry of Education and Riyadh Airbase.

He added that progress is also being made in digging work at Al-Olaya station in preparation for hosting boring machines.

Regarding the bus network, he said road modifications for the first stage of the buses with dedicated routes have begun and that the project’s infrastructure contracts for the network routes (2nd and 3rd phases) in downtown Riyadh are now out for public bidding.

During the meeting, the unified internal design of the trucks and the incorporated latest technologies, comfortable seats and services that meet the needs of all age groups of society were reviewed.

The meeting also discussed the commission’s plans in partnership with the authorities concerned to attract and train Saudi cadres to acquire hands-on expertise in all public transport activities through practical training by the consortia to carry out the project.

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