Rail agency to award two tenders for Metro works

 

 

The Rail Agency of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority is set to award two separate tenders for projects worth billions of dirhams to increase the number of lines and length of Dubai Metro.

 

The contracts – one for the construction of the Blue line and another for the extension of the Red line – will be awarded by the second quarter of 2008.

 

According to the preliminary design, the Blue line will run along Emirates Road and will link Dubai International Airport to Dubai World Central in Jebel Ali.

 

“We will be awarding the contract for the construction of the Blue line in the second quarter of this year and international companies will be invited to take part in an open tender,” said Abdulredha Abu Al Hassan, director of planning at the Rail Agency, in a presentation at the Dubai Mega Projects 2008 conference.

 

Al Hassan said contractors would be chosen on the basis of the latest technologies and innovative designs they brought to the table. He said the actual length of the new line had not been determined, but added that it could be between 49km and 52km. The line, together with its stations, might feature different designs from those used on the Red and Green lines.

 

“Every day, new designs and new technologies are emerging – we will seek to use the latest designs and technologies, which might be different from those used on existing lines.”

 

The Red line will also be extended by another 12km from Jebel Ali Free Zone to the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border at a cost yet to be revealed. However, Al Hassan said it would be a separate project whose cost is not currently reflected in the Dh15.5 billion set aside for Dubai Metro.

 

He added that the project was ready for tender and is awaiting for the go ahead from government authorities, as are new development programmes along the route.

 

The station on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi border will be a multimodal design to accommodate any future integration of the Abu Dhabi rail line. A feasibility study is currently being conducted for an extension of the Green line from Jaddaf, where it stops currently to International City, with a possibility of being extended to Academic City. “Wherever there are new developments, we assess the need for either a metro line or an additional stations. More lines and more stations will be added based on the number of passengers.”

 

Last year, a contract estimated at Dh10bn was awarded to Parsons Brinckerhoff for the initial design work on the Purple line, an express Metro line linking Dubai International Airport with Al Maktoum International Airport and running along Al Khail Road.Currently, 76 per cent of the work on the Red line has been completed, with all the tunnels and underground station structures finalised, and most of the concrete viaducts laid.

 

Twenty-six per cent of the work on the Green line has been finished. All metro tracks under construction are expected to be ready by the end of 2008 and will then undergo testing before the opening of the first phase by September 2009.