Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH – The Council of Ministers on Monday approved public transport system comprising trains and buses for Dammam metropolis and the Qatif region.



The weekly session of the Cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, deputy premier and minister of defense, endorsed the establishment of a private company for public transport to manage the implementation of the project.



The system will be completed within seven years. An higher committee, headed by the emir, will decide on the phases of the project.



The committee members include ministers of finance, transport, and municipal and rural affairs. The approval for Dammam-Qatif public transport system follows the Cabinet’s earlier decision to implement comprehensive public transport systems in Riyadh and Jeddah.



In 2012, the Cabinet approved a similar public transport system, involving metro train and buses, in Riyadh. The work on the four-year project has already started.



Last year, the Council of Ministers approved a draft plan for public transport in the Jeddah region. The plan included networks of trains, buses and sea transport line, besides a public transport station and a suspended bridge in Ubhur.



Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency that the Cabinet reviewed a report presented by the Emir of the Eastern Province with regard to the implementation of public transport system in Dammam and Qatif. The project was approved on the basis of the preliminary studies conducted in this regard. The Cabinet also approved the trademark law for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which was endorsed by the 33rd session of the GCC Supreme Council held in Bahrain last year. This law will replace the trademark law approved in 1428H.



Dr. Khoja said the Cabinet endorsed the recommendation of the minister of foreign affairs to establish non-resident ambassador level diplomatic relations with Swaziland and authorized the minister or his deputy to sign the protocol required in this respect.



At the outset of the session, the Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on the talks he held with the visiting King Juan Carlos of Spain, commending deep relations between the two countries and the keenness of the two sides to enhance them in various fields.



Dr. Khoja said the Cabinet lauded the communique issued by the London meeting of Friends of Syria Group and its decision to hold Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad regime responsible for terrorism it has been practicing against its people and exporting it to the neighboring region.



The Kingdom emphasized the London meeting’s agreement on transferring Al-Assad to the International Criminal Court.