Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has received another round of final offers from the two shortlisted bidding groups for the contract to design and build the new metro link connecting to the Expo 2020 site.

A consortium of Japan’s Obayashi, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC; Athens-based) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries submitted the lowest offer, with a price of AED9.8bn ($2.67bn).

The price is about AED500m, or about 5 per cent, lower than the offer of AED10.3bn submitted by the team of Spain’s Acciona, Turkey’s Gulermak, and France’s Alstom.

The Acciona/Gulermak/Alstom group submitted the lowest price of AED10.07bn when the last round of offers were submitted in mid-May. The Obayashi/CCC/Mitsubishi team submitted a price of AED10.44bn.

It is understood the RTA has added to the scope of works since the mid-May prices were submitted and it is now assessing both bids to determine whether the scope of works priced for the new offers is the same.

The RTA selected the two shortlisted bidders in April after evaluating bids from five groups. Initial prices were opened on 6 March.

The scheme, known as Route 2020, involves building a 15-kilometre-long line branching off the existing Red Line at the Nakheel Harbour & Tower station, between the Ibn Battuta Mall and Jumeirah Lake Towers stations. The line will also connect to Al-Maktoum International airport. About 11km of the line will be elevated, with five elevated stations and two underground stations.