Qatar has selected contractors for the first major construction packages on the Doha metro scheme.

For the Red Line North, the selected consortium includes Italy’s Impregilo, SK Engineering & Construction of South Korea and local Al-Misnad Galfar Engineering & Contracting. For the stations package, the selected consortium includes Yapi Merkezi and STFA from Turkey, and Greece’s Aktor.

Negotiations are understood to be in the final stages and contracts are expected to be signed within days.

The Red Line North package involves the construction of the underground northern section of the proposed Red Line that will cross Doha on a north-south axis. The stations package involves building the two major stations planned for the Msheireb Downtown Doha development and Education City.

Awards are also expected soon for the Red Line South, the Green Line and the Golden Line. Bids were submitted by contractors at the end of 2012 and the start of this year.

There are different project managers for the Doha Metro lines. A team of US-based Louis Berger and France’s Egis Rail is managing the construction of the Gold Line and the two major stations. US-based Jacobs Engineering is on the Red Line and Hill International, also of the US, is working on the Green Line.

Qatar Rail has also invited prequalified contractors to bid for three contracts covering elevated and at grade sections of the metro network.

The 300 kilometre-long Doha Metro will consist of four lines: Red Line, Gold Line, Green Line and Blue Line. The rail project will have 80 stations by the time it is completed. The metro will link the New Doha International Airport (NDIA) to the centre of Doha and will link together a number of the stadiums that will be used for the 2022 World Cup.

Construction work started on the project last year after QRail awarded the consortium of Austria’s Porr, the Saudi Binladin Group and the local HBK Contracting the enabling works package for the metro. The three-year contract has an estimated QR200m ($55m) of work that has already been defined. The total value of the contract could increase to QR500m as more work is added.

The enabling works will include site facilities, civil structures and removing utilities, and will be carried out in preparation for the tunnelling and major stations packages. QRail received bids from four consortiums for the work earlier this year.