Bids are also under evaluation for four other packages. They are:Group 1, the signalling works package, for which three companies submitted bids: CITIC, Germany's Siemens and an all-French team of Alstom and Alcatel;Group 2, the civil works package, for which Spain's Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) and Vinci of France submitted bids;Group 3, the mechanical and electrical package, attracted four bidders: Spain's Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas (FDCC), Siemens, France's AMEC Spie Capag, CITIC and Mitsubishi;Group 4, the track-laying works package, for which three companies submitted bids: CITIC, France's Metrotrack and an unidentified German company.

All these bids are under technical evaluation. NAT will start evaluation of commercial bids later this month, with an award due in the third quarter.

The deadline for the contract to provide supervision and co-ordination services during the project's start-up phase has been extended to 6 August, after prequalifiers sought more time to price the package.

Line 3 will run from Embaba in northwest Cairo to Cairo International Airport in the
east. Phase 1, with an estimated cost of $1,000 million, will
cover the central 4.5-kilometre section between Ataba and Abbasiya and will include five stations and an interchange with line 2.