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ABU DHABI, 9th January, 2023 (WAM) — The UAE’s first sea bridge, once operational, will link Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port with the emirate’s mainland, with trains moving cargo from large containers at the port to Facilities shipped to major centers across the country and beyond, commented a local newspaper.
“It’s only a few hundred meters long, but its effects will soon spread thousands of kilometers across the Gulf,” The National said in an editorial on Monday.
The bridge is one of Etihad Rail’s most anticipated projects and is the second phase of a larger mission to connect the region. It will ensure that goods are transported in a more efficient and sustainable manner. For example, 300 trucks are saved for every fully loaded train crossing the bridge. The resulting reductions in freight and trade costs are important, in addition to the benefits to the environment, especially the positive impact on trade, and the contribution to the overall economic well-being of the region.
In the longer term, it will also enhance Khalifa Port’s status as a global trade hub.
“Over the past two years, much of the public attention has been on the progress made by Etihad Rail on its UAE-wide passenger rail line. This is understandable: nationwide delivery by 2030 36.5 million people, which is one of the goals set by the project, will be no small achievement,” the paper noted.
However, it is worth reminding that equally strategically important to the UAE is the ability to move goods quickly across the country and, someday, to other Gulf countries. In a sense, this aspect of Phase 2 is a natural extension of Phase 1 of the project: the construction of a 264-kilometre line designed to transport granulated sulfur daily from the gas fields at Shah and Habshan to the exit point at Ruwais .
It continued, “But the second phase is much larger and clearly more complex. The construction of the bridge in particular, involving more than 300 workers and taking a million man-hours, required sheer engineering ingenuity. The project, of which last year With exclusive rights to use ahead of completion in October, The National had to consider the tiniest of details, including protecting the marine environment during the year-long construction period.
“The completion of the bridge comes at an important time, especially as the Gulf economies, including the UAE, are expected to recover strongly from the Covid-19 pandemic, which would have been challenging for much of the rest of the world one year.”
According to a report released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the gross domestic product of 22 Arab countries is expected to grow by an average of 4.5% in 2023. The GCC countries are expected to grow at the fastest pace since 2014, expanding by 4.6 percent this year, the report added.
“The Etihad rail network and similar infrastructure projects are an integral part of this, and the sea bridge is an integral part of it, and will only support these diversification efforts already underway in the UAE and its neighbourhood,” Abuza said. Bidai concluded.
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