Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has received bids for two road construction projects and is preparing to receive bids for two other construction contracts.

The largest contract that bids have been submitted for is the parallel roads in Business Bay, and involves building a new bridge across the extension of Dubai Creek that will connect to the under construction Dubai Canal project.

The low bidder is the local/Australian Habtoor Leighton Group with a price of AED445m, which is about AED100m lower than the price of AED554.5m submitted bid the local/UK Dutco Balfour Beatty. The other bidder is the local Wade Adams with a price of AED581m.

US-based Parsons International is the consultant.

The RTA has also received bids from contractors for a flyover at Jebel Ali Free Zone crossing Sheikh Zayed road. The low bidder Is Wade Adams with a price of AED107m, which is about five per cent lower than the offer of AED113m submitted by Dutco Balfour Beatty. The other bidders are the local National Contracting & Transport Company at AED139m, India’s Afcons at AED145m, and Habtoor Leighton Group at AED148m.

The consultant is UK-based Hyder, which is now known as Arcadis.

The RTA is also preparing to receive bids for access roads at International City and on 5 November is due to receive offers for construction work on the new Shindagha corridor scheme. The contract, which is estimated to be worth about AED600m ($163m) is for the upgrade of an intersection in the Karama area next to Zabeel Park on the road leading from World Trade Centre to the Burjuman Centre. The works include the construction of a 300 metre-long and 22 metre-wide bridge, and a 15 metre-deep underpass.

Parsons is the engineering consultant. The overall scheme, which will consist of several major construction packages, includes a signature bridge across the entrance to the Dubai Creek, a 12 lane expressway and various intersections in Deira and Bur Dubai. Parsons will also conduct an evaluation of the existing Shindagha tunnel.

The largest contract being tendered by the RTA is for the new metro link connecting to the Dubai Expo site. At least eight groups were invited to bid for the contract by Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in July. The tender closing date is 6 December. The bidders are understood to be:

• Mapa Gunal (Turkey) / China Railway Group (China) / CSR Corporation (China)
• Acciona (Spain) / Gulermak (Turkey) / Alstom (France)
• Obayashi (Japan) / Wade Adams (local) / Brookfield Multiplex (Canada) / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)
• Orascom (Egypt) / Yapi Merkezi (Turkey) / GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Siemens (Germany)
• Salini Impregilo (Italy) / Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Spain)
• Nurol (Turkey) / Astaldi (Italy) / Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Spain)
• Habtoor Leighton Group (local/Australia) / Deutsche Bahn (Germany) / Hochtief (Germany) / Hyundai Rotem (South Korea)
• Ssangyong Corporation (South Korea) / Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Spain)

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.