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PTA Signs Saudi Arabia’s Largest Intercity Bus Transport Project Contract

The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually. SPA
The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually. SPA
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PTA Signs Saudi Arabia’s Largest Intercity Bus Transport Project Contract

The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually. SPA
The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually. SPA

The Public Transport Authority (PTA) has announced the largest project for transporting passengers by buses connecting the Saudi cities, through a transportation network that covers more than 200 cities and governorates.

The network is expected to serve more than 6 million passengers annually, through 76 routes, and with a new fleet of buses equipped with the latest technologies that allow the use of environmentally friendly vehicles.

This announcement came during a ceremony held by the Authority in the presence of the Minister of Transport and Logistics Services, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Transport Authority, Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, and representatives from the public and private sectors.

Three contracts were signed for intercity transportation projects with the participation of major global alliances aimed at finding and providing advanced quality services for passenger transport by buses between the Kingdom’s cities.

Al-Jasser said that this project is the first foreign investment in intercity transportation services, which opens the way for future investments in this sector.

He praised the role of PTA in transforming challenges into successful investment opportunities that will add the equivalent of SR3.2 billion annually to the gross domestic product.

He stressed that the project will serve several other sectors, including supporting tourism development and contribute to enhancing economic diversification and consolidating partnerships with the private sector.

The National Strategy for Transport and Logistics Services aims to increase the share of using public transportation in the Kingdom from 1% to 15% by 2030.

The project will also contribute to translating one of the most important objectives of the strategy, which establishes the quality of life in cities among its priorities, by reducing the percentage of carbon emissions for transportation to reach 25% by 2030.

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More Than 100 Vultures Die in a Mass Poisoning in South Africa’s Flagship National Park 

A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
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More Than 100 Vultures Die in a Mass Poisoning in South Africa’s Flagship National Park 

A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)

At least 123 vultures died in South Africa's flagship national park after eating the carcass of an elephant that was poisoned by poachers with agricultural pesticides, park authorities and an animal conservation group said Thursday.

Another 83 vultures that were rescued from the site and transported for treatment by helicopter or a special vulture ambulance were recovering.

The mass poisoning was one of the worst seen in the famous Kruger National Park in northern South Africa, said SANParks, the national parks agency.

Vultures are key to wildlife ecosystems because of the clean up work they do feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. But that also makes them especially vulnerable to poisoning by poachers, either intentionally or as a result of the killing of other animals. Hundreds of vultures typically feed on a carcass.

The elephant had been poisoned by poachers in a remote part of the huge park to harvest its body parts for the illegal wildlife trade, SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said.

Many vulture species are endangered in Africa because of poisoning and other threats to them. The affected birds in Kruger included Cape vultures, endangered lappet-faced vultures and critically-endangered white-backed and hooded vultures.

“This horrific incident is part of a broader crisis unfolding across southern Africa: the escalating use of poisons in wildlife poaching,” SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in their joint statement. “Poachers increasingly use agricultural toxins to target high-value species.”

The Kruger National Park covers approximately 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) and is nearly twice the size of small countries like Jamaica and Qatar.

Rangers say they face a daily battle to guard species like rhinos, elephants and lions from poachers.

Vulture conservation organization Vulpro, which was not involved in the rescue, said the poisoning came at the start of the breeding season and many other birds that weren't found at the site could still be affected.