10 to bid for Makkah metro

Saudi Arabia has shortlisted 10 consortiums to bid for a USD multi-billion metro project in its western town of Makkah, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.
 
Makkah’s Prince Mashaal bin Abdullah has approved the list which includes national and international companies, they said, quoting the city’s mayor Osama al Bar.
 
“The 10 shortlisted national and international consortiums are invited to submit their bids for the first phase of the project,” he said, quoted by the London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayat and other Saudi newspapers.
 
The papers quoted Saad Al Qadi, CEO and director general of the Makkah Metro, as saying the first phase of the project involves the construction of two 45-km rail lines and 22 train stations, adding that it includes two separate contracts.
 
He said phase 1 had been split into two contracts with the aim of speeding up work and completing the project on time.
 
“We have decided to start receiving bids from the shortlisted consortiums in early July,” he said without giving a specific date.
 
Officials have earlier said the Makkah Metro project involves three main parts—civil works, train transport systems, and manufacturing of the train cars and maintenance equipment. The project includes four lines with a total length of 114 km and 62 stations and is part of a transport system that also comprises various types of buses.
 
The Saudi cabinet had approved the transport project at a total cost of SAR 62 billion ($16.5bn), involving three phases, the first of which will cost SAR25.5bn ($6.8bn) and will be completed within three years. The second five-year stage has a cost of SAR19 bn ($5.06bn) while the third phase will cost SAR17.5bn ($4.6bn) and will be finished within two years.
 
In previous comments, Al Bar said the prequalified consortiums include companies from
China, South Korea, Malaysia, Spain, Italy and Austria.

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