Doha extends rail station tender

22 October 2009

Bidders given two more weeks to prepare

The New Doha International Airport Steering Committee has extended the tender closing date to 3 November for a contract to build a railway station at the $11bn New Doha International Airport.

The client changed the original closing date of 20 October to give bidders more time to prepare.

The tender is the first construction contract on any of the five rail networks Doha is planning to build over the next 10 years. UK-based Mace International is the project manager for the scheme, known as the Passenger Railway Station Box.

The project involves building a railway station terminal for an express airport rail line that will connect to rail and metro stations in downtown Doha and other rail networks. Sources familiar with the project say the steering committee wants to finish the station in time for the opening of the first two phases of the new airport in 2011 (MEED 4:10:09).

Doha plans to build several rail lines and other public transport networks over the next decade. The Trade & Business Ministry will invite consultants to submit proposals in 2010 for a national railway system. Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, in partnership with Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, has already developed a conceptual design for a national railway system in Qatar.

The companies’ multi-billion-dollar concept design has five components: an east coast rail link between Ras Laffan and Mesaieed; a high-speed link from Doha to Bahrain across the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway; a freight link connecting to the planned GCC rail network; a Doha metro network; and a light rail network serving residential developments.

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