Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transport plans to invite firms to submit prequalification documents in the next few weeks for a consultancy contract for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) scheme.

Abu Dhabi aims to shortlist between five to 10 bidders for the work and plans to award the contract by the end of Ramadan, says a source closely involved with the project.

The consultant will carry out the design of the ITS scheme in a process that could take up to nine months to finish. The transport department will then invite firms to bid for the construction contract in 2011.

The department invited companies to prequalify in May for three main areas of the ITS, including ITS design and project management, ITS contractors and ITS software and hardware suppliers, and systems manufacturers.

So far, Germany’s Siemens and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation have submitted prequalification documents.

The department of transport was not able to disclose how many companies have submit prequalification documents in total.

The ITS projects are aimed at improving the safety, operation and maintenance of the surface transport systems in Abu Dhabi, such as roads, metro, tram, maritime and aviation.

The transport department plans to execute the projects in phases within a five-year timeframe.

The first phase includes the establishment of a multi-modal transportation management centre, deployment of roadside ITS subsystems, such as CCTV, variable message signs and highways advisory radio. The first phase also includes developing parking areas in the city and water transport, such as ferries and water taxis.

Phases 2 to 5 cover expansion of the roadside ITS devices, expansion of the ITS communication backbone and the integration of the deployed systems.

In November 2009, the department of transport announced its $68bn transport masterplan, which involves developing a metro, a tram system and road improvements (MEED 11:11:09).

The department is also developing separate surface transport masterplans for Al-Ain and the Western Region.