Iran’s Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Company (TUSRC) expects to award the contracts for the much-delayed construction of Tehran Metro’s lines 8, 9 and 10 by the middle of 2018 if ongoing discussions with potential funding sources are successful.

MEED earlier reported that Tehran Municipality was undertaking discussions with Japanese, Chinese and European investors for the three metro lines and two tramways.

It is expected that contractors from the country providing the funding will be awarded the main deal for each line.

MEED understands the client is looking at both build, operate, transfer (BOT) and build, lease, operate and transfer (BLOT) options to build and operate the three lines.

Each of the planned metro lines will be about 30 kilometres. The total investment required for the lines could reach $5.8bn, or an estimated $65m per kilometre, inclusive of the cost of construction, rolling stock and systems.

Three metro lines are currently operational in Tehran, while two more, lines 6 and 7, are currently under construction.