The General Establishment for al-Hijaz Railway seeks to increase its investment revenues and to overcome the obstacles facing its investment plan through the coordination with the bodies concerned and the optimal investment of all available capabilities, archeological acquisitions, steam engines and locomotives, in addition to activating the tourist railway transport.
Director-General of the Establishment, Eng. Mahmoud Saqbani told SANA that the expenditures of the establishment have reached SYP 132 million since the beginning of 2011 as they covered several projects including the project of al-Hijaz Tunnels which were constructed according to high international standards.
Saqbani added that the Establishment has also restored ancient archeological stations situated on several axes of the railways path, in addition to maintaining ancient locomotives and wooden coaches dating back to more than one hundred yeas ago which are still working as they are invested in the tourism sector.
He reviewed the problems facing the implementation of the Establishment's investment plan such as the existence of some houses and commercial shops on the path of al-Hijaz Tunnel in the area of random housing to the south of al-Midan Neighborhood, in addition to the sewer line in Nahr Aisha area and the infrastructure works.
He said that more than 18 courses in the technical and specialized domains were held in the same period, in addition to language and IT courses with the aim of upgrading the scientific and cultural level of the human recourses working at the Establishment, adding that the cost of the courses hit SYP 314,000 with an execution rate estimated at 88%.
Regarding the production, Saqbani said that the Establishment achieved revenues estimated at SYP 261 million till the end of the third quarter of the current year with an increase of SY 23 million in comparison with the same period last year due to the optimal investment of all the financial resources represented in manufacturing car plates for all the vehicles in Syria.
The optimal investment of the real estates possessed by the Establishment has played a key role in increasing its revenues as the revenues of the real estates investment reached SYP 165 million with an increase estimated at SYP 15 million compared to the same period last year.
He indicated to the cooperation project with the Jordanian Hijaz Railway to transport cement from Amman to Damascus with the aim of activating freight rail transport.
The Establishment has also signed a contract for establishing a five-star hotel on the real estate no. 748 over an area of 5,000 square meters with a cost estimated at SYP 3 billion.
It has also provided temporary job opportunities for more than 220 youths to work in the domains of production and investment.
A strategy was also set for the transportation means in the suburbs in accordance with the 11th five-year plan with the aim of effectively contributing to solving the transport crisis in Damascus and its countryside and the neighboring provinces.
© SANA (Syria Arab News Agency) 2011
