Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Transport and Logistics Eng. Saleh Al-Jasser said that Saudi Arabia has a strong infrastructure to support the mining industry, and the road network is the most connected in the world. “Last year alone, we transported more than 25 million tons of goods on our railway system, most of which were minerals,” he said while addressing the fourth edition of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh on Wednesday.

Al-Jasser said that that Saudi Arabia has invested in roads for many years, and that the Kingdom’s ports are modern and well-equipped with the latest technologies. "The Kingdom has a network of 5,500 railway lines, which were built largely to support the logistics industry and the mining industry in particular," he said. When we built our national strategy for transport and logistics, it was built in full coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources to ensure that we meet their ambitious plans to build the mining industry,” he said.

Al-Jasser revealed that about 50 percent of the funding in the transport and logistics sector will be directed to railways, which in turn supports industry and minerals. "The number of railway lines has doubled in the last three years, and that the number of national and international lines that connect with our ports has increased from 53 to 115," he said while pointing out that the Saudi transport and logistics system was built using modern and environmentally friendly technologies.

“Resilience is very important as it has been tested during the COVID-19 pandemic and also during the current Red Sea crisis, where about 50 percent of trade in the Red Sea has been affected. However, our imports and exports have increased by high single digits in the past year," he added.