Saudi Public Transport Co (Saptco)said on Saturday it has teamed up with an affiliate of France's Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) to bid for public transport projects. Saudi Arabia is spending $400 billion in the five years to end 2013 on development projects which include several transport projects - especially tramway, high speed trains and metros - in existing or planned cities in the Kingdom. Saptco signed on Saturday a “strategic cooperation agreement” with RATP Developpement that would “enhance the two firms' competitiveness in operating and the maintenance of integrated public transportation networks,” the Saudi firm said in a statement on the bourse website. Saptco added: “(The agreement) is in preparation for existing and future opportunities and projects in the Kingdom and in Gulf countries which are witnessing a growing development in the field of public transportation.” The two firms will bid for projects in Saudi cities such as Makkah, Riyadh and Madina as well as in economic cities that are under construction, Saptco said. Saudi Arabia has one passenger railway of less than 400 km (248.5 miles) linking the capital Riyadh to the eastern city of Dammam. Dubai launched in September a first segment of its light intra city rail, part of a project set to cost $7.6 billion. Saptco, in which the finance ministry's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the biggest shareholder, operates one of Saudi Arabia's most sophisticated bus transport services.
