Saudi Arabia Launches Largest Bus Transport Project Linking 200 Cities, Provinces

The Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services launched a mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces
The Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services launched a mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces
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Saudi Arabia Launches Largest Bus Transport Project Linking 200 Cities, Provinces

The Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services launched a mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces
The Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services launched a mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces

Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser has launched in Riyadh a mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces, with the capacity to accommodate six million passengers annually.

The project operates through three international alliances in three concession areas, utilizing a state-of-the-art fleet of buses equipped with advanced technological features to establish connections across 76 routes within the designated cities and provinces.

The inaugural ceremony, organized by the Transport General Authority (TGA), was attended by ministers, ambassadors, and officials from government authorities and private sector companies.

During the ceremony, the Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistic Services, who also serves as the chairperson of the board of directors at TGA, highlighted the project's contribution to creating over 35,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, with an anticipated addition of SAR3.2 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Al-Jasser said the groundbreaking initiative, designed to improve services for beneficiaries and strengthen private sector partnerships, represents the first foreign investment in this particular field.

He also emphasized the positive impact of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS) launched by the Crown Prince, which has been instrumental in fostering growth and reform across all sectors of the transportation and logistics system.



Customers at this Starbucks Can Sip Coffee and Observe a Quiet North Korean Village

Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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Customers at this Starbucks Can Sip Coffee and Observe a Quiet North Korean Village

Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Visitors at a newly opened Starbucks store as North Korea’s Kaephung county is seen in the background at the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Coffee drinkers can sip their beverages and view a quiet North Korean mountain village from a new Starbucks at a South Korean border observatory.
Customers have to pass a military checkpoint before entering the observatory at Aegibong Peace Ecopark, which is less than a mile from North Korean territory and overlooks North Korea’s Songaksan mountain and a nearby village in Kaephung county, The Associated Press said.
The tables and windows face North Korea at the Starbucks, where about 40 people, a few of them foreigners, came to the opening Friday.
The South Korean city of Gimpo said hosting Starbucks was part of efforts to develop its border facilities as a tourist destination and said the shop symbolizes “robust security on the Korean Peninsula through the presence of this iconic capitalist brand.”
The observatory is the key facility at Aegibong park, which was built on a hill that was a fierce battle site during the 1950-53 Korean War. The park also has gardens, exhibition and conference halls and a war memorial dedicated to fallen marines.
Gimpo and other South Korean border cities like Paju have been trying to develop their border sites as tourist assets, even as tensions grow between the war-divided Koreas.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been trying to raise pressure on South Korea and threatening to attack his rival with nuclear weapons if provoked. North Korea has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying trash-laden balloons into the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.
Kaephung county is believed to be one of the possible sites from where North Korea has launched thousands of balloons over several months.
South Korea’s military said Friday that the North flew dozens more balloons overnight and that some trash and leaflets landed around the capital Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province.