The Middle East Transport

Home to the region’s second-largest airline and with a new airport due to open shortly, Qatar is setting its sights on becoming an international leader in air transport. Qatar Airways now serves more than 100 destinations worldwide and is becoming a key player in linking the Middle East to Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond.

Further progress towards the construction of a national rail network, along with long-awaited expansions in the port system, are highlighting Oman’s potential to become a lynchpin for commercial transport in the GCC. A special body will be set up within the Ministry of Transport and Communications to facilitate the installation of a new rail network in the Sultanate, Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, the transport and communications minister, said.

Abu Dhabi will soon be connected to the other emirates of the UAE and to the wider region by a broad-gauge rail network that will streamline logistics, boost exports and increase industrial development.

Dubai has cleared the way for private investors to enter the emirate’s public transport sector, having laid the foundations for a partial privatisation of some operations in the state’s growing rail, road and waterborne networks.

The RAK Investment Authority (RAKIA) licenced 800 new companies in the first eight months of 2011, a 31% increase from the same period last year, according to Alex Thomas, RAKIA’s general manager of marketing. Most of the new licences were for manufacturing firms, and the number of trading and transport licenses was also up, Thomas said.