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Saudi Arabia's high-speed Haramain train to generate over 2,000 jobs, says official

Arab News
February 17, 2018

Makkah, Feb 17: The Haramain rail project, or “Makkah-Madinah high-speed railway,” will create more than 2,000 jobs for Saudis, according to the former director general of the Haramain train, Dr. Bassam Gholman.

Gholman said 12,000 passengers would be able to travel between Makkah and Madinah every hour, providing secure and comfortable transport for pilgrims and other users. It was possible to operate 10 trips of 21 minutes between Makkah and Jeddah every hour, and two per hour between Makkah and Madinah.

He said the SR60 billion ($16 billion) project included four train stations in Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdullah Economic City and Madinah, in addition to a fifth station at the new King Abdul Aziz Airport, and could help to dismantle many slums.

The Saudi Ministry of Transport is running trips on the Haramain train from Makkah to Madinah to collect feedback and prepare for the launch of commercial operations.

Ministry spokesman Abdullah Sayel said one trip this week between Makkah to Madinah hosted students, supervisors and faculty members from Umm Al-Qura University. This was an extension of weekly trips incorporating social partnerships with various entities, including the public and private sector.

Sayel said that the Haramain train has been operating trips every weekend between Madinah to Makkah to gauge the operational capabilities of the train.

Abdulmonem Boukhary, former public relations and media director at the Makkah Chamber of Trade and Industry, said that the train service between the two holy cities would have a huge economic impact and take two hours compared with the current five- hour drive.

The Haramain service is one of the biggest public transport projects in the Middle East, a 450 kilometer two-way electric train linking Makkah and Madinah, with extensions to Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City.

The project will transport 60 million passengers per year on 35 trains, with a seating capacity of 417 per train and traveling at a speed of 300 kph.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.

The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.

In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.

“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.

The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.

In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.

Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.

In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.

It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Riyadh, Mar 11: Energy titan Saudi Aramco said Tuesday it will boost crude oil supplies to 12.3 million barrels per day in April, flooding markets as it escalates a price war with Russia.

Riyadh had already slashed its price for April delivery after Russia refused its proposal that producer alliance OPEC+ orchestrate a co-ordinated cut of 1.5 million barrels per day.

The production cut had been mooted to shore up global oil prices, which have gone into meltdown as the deadly new coronavirus casts a pall over the world economy, but now price cuts and rising output indicate an unravelling of OPEC+ co-operation.

"Saudi Aramco announces that it will provide its customers with 12.3 million barrels per day of crude oil in April," the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter has been pumping some 9.8 million bpd so its announcement on Tuesday means it will be adding at least 2.5 million bpd from April.

"The Company has agreed with its customers to provide them with such volumes starting 1 April 2020. The Company expects that this will have a positive, long-term financial effect," the statement said.

Saudi Arabia says it has an output capacity of 12 million bpd but it is not known for how long it can sustain such levels.

The kingdom also has millions of barrels of crude stored in strategic reserves to be used when needed and is expected to use it to provide the extra supply to the global market.

"Production above 12 million bpd shows the Saudis have something to prove," director of Britain-based RS Energy Bill Farren-Price said.

"This is a grab for market share. The taps are open and the prices have been cut sharply," Farren-Price told AFP.

In a quick response, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow could boost production in the short term "by 200,00-300,000 bpd, with a potential of 500,000 bpd in the near future".

But he stressed that Moscow was in favour of extending a December agreement that had seen OPEC and Russia agree to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day in 2020, lowering output from October 2018 levels by 1.7 million barrels per day.

The events of recent days have signalled a disintegration of collaboration between OPEC and Russia.

Russia is a non-OPEC member and the world's second-biggest oil producer, but Moscow and other non-members have in recent years co-operated with the oil cartel in an arrangement known as OPEC+.

The Saudi price cuts over the weekend, which were the first salvo in the price war, sent oil prices crashing -- registering the single biggest one-day loss in three decades on Monday.

Saudi Arabia draws around 70 per cent of its revenues from oil, and the revenues are key to ambitious reform programmes launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Dubai, Apr 11: Saudi Arabia has reported another 382 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 4,033, the Ministry of Health announced on Saturday.

The ministry also confirmed five more deaths from the virus, pushing the death toll in Kingdom to 52.

A total of 35 people has made full recovery from the deadly disease, taking the tally of patients recovered to 720.

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