Saudi to sign Makkah Metro deal in October

Saudi Arabia has asked 10 of 16 international consortiums to submit their bids for the USD multi-billion Makkah Metro project and the contract will be signed in early October, the city’s mayor was quoted on Sunday as saying. Osama Al Bar said the project would be launched in mid-2015 and would be operated on a trial basis in 2017 before it is fully commissioned at the start of 2020. He told the Saudi Arabic language daily Al Youm that a letter containing the terms and specifications of the project had been sent to the pre-qualified 10 consortiums vying for the first phase of the project involving civil works. “We have asked them to submit their bids for this project. We intend to sign the contract with the winning bidders in early October,” he said. Bar said the project involves the construction of 88 train stations, including 22 underground depots, adding that six consortiums have been pre-qualified to bid for the buses project, which is also part of the city’s general transport scheme. He said four rail lanes stretching around 182km would be constructed within the project to ensure coverage for the entire Western city of Makkah. “As for operation and maintenance, this project is now under way. We have already contracted with a consultancy firm to manage the metro project and another one for the design of bus lanes. Both of them are now working on their projects,” he said. “The whole transport project will be launched in mid 2015 and will be commissioned on a trial basis in 2017. It will be fully operational in early 2020 through a four-phase plan.” The Saudi cabinet has approved the Metro project, part of an ongoing transport modernization scheme through the Gulf Kingdom, at a total cost of USD16.5 billion.