Amman-Zarqa Light Rail System
Encyclopedia
The Amman-Zarqa Light Rail System is a proposed project to address the transportation issues within and between two of the biggest Jordan
ian cities, the capital Amman
and the nearby industrial city of Zarqa
. The project proposal consists of three stages with the first stage connecting Amman with Zarqa using about 26 km of the currently existing Hejaz Railway tracks to provide transportation for about 90,000 passengers daily starting from Northern parts of Zarqa (Az-Zarqa'a Al-Jadidah) to Raghadan area in downtown Amman. The estimated cost of the project is about US$333,000,000, and it was anticipated to be in operation by 2012.
The railroad project was first proposed in the late 1990s. Unable to attract qualified bidders, the tender was revised and offered again in 2005 with no success. In 2006, after the Jordanian government sought consulting from local and international consulting groups, the project was tendered for the third time on a Build-Operate-Transfer
basis and, ultimately, was awarded to a Kuwait
i-Spanish
consortium. However, the consortium was not able to secure the required financing for the project by the deadline of March 31, 2009, which was extended twice before that.
As of June 2009, the contract with the Kwuiti-Spanish consortium was voided and the project was put on hold.
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian cities, the capital Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
and the nearby industrial city of Zarqa
Zarqa
Az-Zarqāʔ is a city in Jordan located to the northeast of Amman. With a population of more than one million 1000,000. It is the country's second largest city after Amman. Zarqa is the capital of Zarqa Governorate . Its name means "the blue one".- Overview :Zarqa is Jordan's industrial centre, home...
. The project proposal consists of three stages with the first stage connecting Amman with Zarqa using about 26 km of the currently existing Hejaz Railway tracks to provide transportation for about 90,000 passengers daily starting from Northern parts of Zarqa (Az-Zarqa'a Al-Jadidah) to Raghadan area in downtown Amman. The estimated cost of the project is about US$333,000,000, and it was anticipated to be in operation by 2012.
The railroad project was first proposed in the late 1990s. Unable to attract qualified bidders, the tender was revised and offered again in 2005 with no success. In 2006, after the Jordanian government sought consulting from local and international consulting groups, the project was tendered for the third time on a Build-Operate-Transfer
Build-Operate-Transfer
Build-own-operate-transfer or build-operate-transfer is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract...
basis and, ultimately, was awarded to a Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i-Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
consortium. However, the consortium was not able to secure the required financing for the project by the deadline of March 31, 2009, which was extended twice before that.
As of June 2009, the contract with the Kwuiti-Spanish consortium was voided and the project was put on hold.