New Makkah metro tenders coming

Saudi Arabia has decided to issue a new tender for the operation of the Makkah metro after cancelling the first tender because of high costs submitted by bidding companies, an official has said.

Saud bin Hamdan Al Dhakiri, a spokesman for the Makkah development department, said 10 international firms had submitted bids in response to the first tender for a five-year operation of the metro, known as Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Line.

“We decided to re-tender the contract after we found that the bids submitted by those companies were costly. We have also stipulated that the company which is awarded this contract must raise the number of Saudi employees to 30 per cent in the first years of the contract then to 80 per cent in the remaining two years,” he told Okaz Arabic language daily.

He said the five-year contract for the present Chinese operator is about to expire and that the new operator must meet the “Saudization” terms.

Al Dhakiri did not say when the second tender would be issued but added a committee grouping representatives from the ministries of finance and municipal affairs has been formed to review the contract and issue a new tender.

An international consortium led by China Railway Construction Corp in 2009 won the main contract for the construction of the Makkah train project, the first phase of which cost around SR25 billion (Dh24.5 billion).

Saudi Arabia decided to build the train as part of a massive development project for Makkah and to transport more than three million Moslems converging on the western city every year to perform pilgrimage.
 

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