Middle East’s first monorail nears completion

by Ashaba K Abdul Basti on Friday,January 25,2008

The Middle East’s first monorail will be ready to transport commuters along The Palm Jumeirah by the end of this year. More than 90 per cent of the work has been completed on the 5.4km track that runs from the top of The Palm’s crescent and down the length of its trunk.

Work began in 2006 on the mass-transit system. When complete, it will have four stations – Gateway Towers, Trump Tower, a retail centre, and the Atlantis Hotel, currently under construction on the crescent.

A depot and an operations control centre have been planned for the route.

“Construction work is right on schedule and we expect the system to be operational by late this year,” said Aaron Richardson, a senior spokesperson for Nakheel, the developer of Palm Jumeirah, which is also behind the monorail project. Read the complete article here ->>>-

Saudi plans to build five monorails to link holy cities

By Habib Shaikh (Our correspondent) 13 January 2008

Monorails offer quick, safe and environment-friendly transportation. “In the first phase, it could be used for domestic pilgrims as well as those pilgrims who come by land from foreign countries,” he explained. Al Abidine said the system would help transport at least 500,000 pilgrims within six to eight hours, and reduce the number of buses by 25,000 from a total of 70,000 used by domestic pilgrims as well as pilgrims who come by land from neighbouring countries. Read the complete article here ->>>-

11-01-2008: MRCB lands monorail job by Joseph Chin

MRCB consortium including Scomi Engineering wins the Penang Monorail project

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB)-led consortium, which includes Scomi Engineering Bhd and Penang Port Commission (PPC), is believed to have beaten three other bidders for the Penang monorail job, sources said.

They said MRCB was awarded the project, which analysts estimate would cost RM1.6 billion, for submitting the “most comprehensive” and “lowest priced” bid among the contenders. The consortium submitted its bid on Nov 14 last year.

The other three bidders for the monorail were MMC Bhd, the then Road Builder (M) Holdings Bhd, which has since been taken over by IJM Corporation Bhd, and the Melewar Group.

Analysts said a lot of synergy was provided by MRCB and its consortium partners, with PPC being the owner of the land on which the monorail would start from, Scomi the expertise to build the monorail coaches, and MRCB the builder of the infrastructure.

They said the Penang monorail project will be the platform for MRCB to showcase its capability when bidding for similar rail projects overseas including India. They said MRCB was also negotiating for a US$2 billion (RM6.5 billion) transport and housing development job in Saudi Arabia.

They added that the Penang Monorail project would also enable MRCB to position itself for more infrastructure projects in the various economic corridors in the country. View the complete article here ->>>-