(picture of Dubai metro under construction)Today’s alwasat carried an article taking some Bahraini experts and leaders views on building a Metro system in Bahrain.
http://www.alwasatnews.com/newspager_pages/ViewDetails.aspx?news_id=52422&news_type=LOC&writer_code=
The interviewers included: Farooq AlMuayad, Soud Kanoo, Hisham AlMadani (Bahraini university, civil engineering),MP Dr.Jasim Husain (economic expert) and Reem Akbari (transportation researcher, University of Bahrain).
They all agreed that such a system is desperately needed in Bahrain. They all also said it requires in-depth planning or such a project will backfire. Most experts believe such a project will require 10 years to complete and given how slow construction is in Bahrain, we can tag 5 more years to give us a total of 15 years.
Experts believe that such a system will cost billion of dollars but the benefits is worth the investment. No serious feasibility study has been done on the benefits but according to Reem Akbari, “we did a pool asking people if they will use such a system and we got 50% saying yes”.
I have talked about the metro system in a previous article, I think if done well, it will be very beneficial to our country and economy. We have 300,000 cars on the road with an increase of 10% yearly, the road upgrades alone will not solve the problem. We need someone to take a bold decision, like Dubai did . If anyone can take such a decision it will be the EDB, (hope they read this).
Phase one of Dubai metro will be operational in 2009 and second phase in 2010, Dubai will build 50 large stations and expected to be used by 250,000 people per day.
Dr. Jasim Hussain (an economic expert), believe that Bahrain can afford such a project. I my self don’t believe that we require a metro system as big as Dubai ( I mean 50 stations is a lot), but I do agree with Dr.Hussain, for our requirement we should be able to afford it, especially if the prices of oil stay high.
http://www.alwasatnews.com/newspager_pages/ViewDetails.aspx?news_id=52422&news_type=LOC&writer_code=
The interviewers included: Farooq AlMuayad, Soud Kanoo, Hisham AlMadani (Bahraini university, civil engineering),MP Dr.Jasim Husain (economic expert) and Reem Akbari (transportation researcher, University of Bahrain).
They all agreed that such a system is desperately needed in Bahrain. They all also said it requires in-depth planning or such a project will backfire. Most experts believe such a project will require 10 years to complete and given how slow construction is in Bahrain, we can tag 5 more years to give us a total of 15 years.
Experts believe that such a system will cost billion of dollars but the benefits is worth the investment. No serious feasibility study has been done on the benefits but according to Reem Akbari, “we did a pool asking people if they will use such a system and we got 50% saying yes”.
I have talked about the metro system in a previous article, I think if done well, it will be very beneficial to our country and economy. We have 300,000 cars on the road with an increase of 10% yearly, the road upgrades alone will not solve the problem. We need someone to take a bold decision, like Dubai did . If anyone can take such a decision it will be the EDB, (hope they read this).
Phase one of Dubai metro will be operational in 2009 and second phase in 2010, Dubai will build 50 large stations and expected to be used by 250,000 people per day.
Dr. Jasim Hussain (an economic expert), believe that Bahrain can afford such a project. I my self don’t believe that we require a metro system as big as Dubai ( I mean 50 stations is a lot), but I do agree with Dr.Hussain, for our requirement we should be able to afford it, especially if the prices of oil stay high.
