$500 million Israeli-Jordanian railway

Jordan and Israel are embarking on studying the possibility of erecting a railway linking their potash factories in the Dead Sea area with the ports of Aqaba and Eilat.

The railway is also to link Jordan to the free trade zone Israel is to establish in Likiet, near Beer Sabaa in the south of occupied Palestine.

Well-informed Jordanian sources said this railway project will be completed at a cost of U.S. $500 million to be provided by Arab and foreign investors.

Meanwhile, the Israeli-Jordanian joint follow up committee of joint projects decided in a meeting held on Wednesday and chaired by Munzir Haddadin to establish several free zones in the central al-Ghour, al-Aqaba, Eilat and al-Mafraq districts in northern Jordan, as well as to erect a railway between Haifa on the Palestinian coast and Irbed, in northern Jordan.

Haddadin is responsible for Jordanian relations with Israel while the Israeli Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon is responsible for Israeli relations with Jordan.