Cairo metro awards Line 1 renovation contract

03 February 2013

Construction contracts for Line 3 still to be tendered

Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has awarded French firm Systra a contract to renovate Line 1 of the Cairo metro system. 

Systra has extensive experience of working for the NAT, having designed Line 1, which was completed in the mid-1980s, and worked on the designs for Line 2 and 3.

Despite Systra’s show of confidence in the Egyptian capital’s metro, there has been little movement on the phase three expansion plans for Line 3.

A number of companies have been prequalified for the construction contracts of the 17.7-kilometre phase 3 extension of the third metro line. This phase covers the line from Attaba to Kit Kat, via Rod el-Farag and on to Cairo University. Construction was meant to begin this year, with a completion date of 2018 set.

NAT secured a €940m ($1.27bn) financing package from the EU and the French Development Agency in September last year to finance the expansion plans.

The recent political unrest in Egypt will inevitably stall the decision-making process on the metro. According to local press, the protests spread to the metro network, with rioters blocking trains by supposedly sleeping on the tracks.

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