Oman may focus on building a domestic rail network rather than connecting its railways to a regional system, because of uncertainty over when the regional project will go ahead, transport minister Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Futaisi said on Sunday. Last month Etihad Rail, the state-backed firm building a railway network in the United Arab Emirates, said it had suspended the tendering process for a plan to connect track inside the UAE with the borders of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Futaisi told reporters on Sunday that the suspension of Etihad's plan made it difficult for Oman to award a contract for its own track, even though Muscat was ahead of other countries in designing its part of the network. "The picture is not clear yet regarding the regional rail project," Futaisi said. As a result, he added, Oman might change its focus from using its railways to distribute imports of goods around the region via the GCC network, to facilitating Oman's seaborne exports of items such as raw materials. "We are connecting the ports, as planned, but we might be utilising the railway for promising sectors such as mining," Futaisi said. "So instead of the initial plan of importing via Oman's ports and then using the GCC rail project, we might start with exporting what we have in Oman." (Reuters)