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Plans for a railway project linking Gulf coast
Dubai, with 2 million inhabitants and the world’s highest rate of car ownership is expecting estimated 10 million inhabitants by the next generation. Accordingly, Dubai is planning a mass public transportation system. Projects like the Palm Jumeirah monorail and Dubai metro red line will be completed by 2009. Besides, it is not just Dubai but several other GCC countries that have plans worth $100 billion dedicated for railway projects. Moreover, a decree is expected to set up a Union Rail connecting all seven emirates of the UAE from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah. In addition, an approval on a feasibility study for the GCC railway has been granted and hopes are high that the plan will be approved by the next GCC summit. The GCC railway will connect the Gulf coast from Kuwait to Oman.
First cinema in Saudi Arabia
In the commemoration of Saudi Aramco’s 75th anniversary, the state oil firm plans to build a museum and a cultural center that will include Saudi Arabia’s first cinema. The King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture is scheduled to open for the public in May 2012; it will cover an area of 65,000 square meters in the Dhahran area of the Eastern Province. There will be five main intercontinental buildings, the tallest of which will be 15 floors high. They will house exhibition halls, a museum, an auditorium, a theater, a mosque, a library and the cinema. The main auditorium will be able to sit 1,000 visitors, while the cinema will have a capacity of 320 viewers. The public library will hold 300,000 books, and the museum will host exhibitions of art and artifacts from Saudi Arabia, as well as international collections.
Libya begins to realize potential for brighter future
Even with the elimination of sanctions on Libya in 2003/04 by the US and the international community, plans to diversify the Libyan economy failed due to the bureaucratic inefficiencies that restricted the country’s economic development. Indeed, the economy remains heavily dependent on its hydrocarbon resources: oil revenues were estimated at $31.5 billion in 2006. But this strength in oil earnings has put the economy in a strong position; GDP more than doubled between 2003 and 2006 to reach $46 billion.
Libya, with only 25% of the country covered by exploration agreements, has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa with 41.5 billion barrels and the fourth highest gas reserves in Africa with 53 trillion cubic feet, behind Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt. However, in February 2007 influential political figures led by Saif al-Islam Ghaddafi, launched a major reform drive involving the privatization of the state enterprise, in addition to investing in real estate projects. In 2009, and for the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Colonel Gaddafi to power, three new airports are being built that will handle 20, 5 and 3 million passengers a year, respectively. Moreover, Majid al-Futtaim Investments is spending $1.5 billion to develop a new central business district in the capital including three hotels, residential and retail units, office buildings and a 40-floor skyscraper.
