Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has shortlisted two bidders for the contract to design and build the new metro link connecting to the Expo 2020 site.

It is understood the two bidders are:

• Acciona (Spain) / Gulermak (Turkey) / Alstom (France)
• Obayashi (Japan) / Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC; Athens-based) / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)

It is understood outstanding technical queries will be answered over the next few weeks ahead of final negotiations. An award is expected before Ramadan starts in June.

The market was surprised on 6 March, when a team of Turkey’s Nurol, Italy’s Astaldi and Spain’s Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) submitted the lowest commercial offer for the contract to design and build the metro link. The group submitted a price of about AED7bn ($1.9bn) with no alternative offer, which is 29 per cent cheaper than the second-lowest offer of about AED10bn with no alternative offer.

Later in March, the RTA held meetings with all five bidders to discuss the financing proposed by each of the consortiums. The authority and the Dubai government then levelised the offers and assessed which bids offered the best value.

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.