Dubai to meet all five metro bidders

20 March 2016

Transport authority opened commercial offers on 6 March

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will meet with the five bidders competing for the contract to design and build the new metro link connecting to the Expo 2020 site on Monday 21 March.

The meeting could indicate which groups are in leading positions for the contract, which will be the largest infrastructure construction deal awarded in Dubai this year.

Dubai Metro extension

Dubai Metro extension

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 new metro link connecting to the Expo 2020 site. The group submitted a price of about AED7bn ($1.9bn) with no alternative offer, which is 29 per cent smaller than the second-lowest offer of about AED10bn with no alternative offer.

When the commercial offers were opened the RTA said that there would be a three week clarification period to levelise the bids.

Metro results*

1. Nurol (Turkey) / Astaldi (Italy) / Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Spain) – AED6,998,874,922 (no alternative offer)

2. Mapa Gunal (Turkey) / China Railway Group (China) / CSR Corporation (China) – AED9,891,387,231.14 (no alternative offer)

3. Orascom (Egypt) / Yapi Merkezi (Turkey) / GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea) / Siemens (Germany) – AED10,019,449,463 (no alternative)

4. Acciona (Spain) / Gulermak (Turkey) / Alstom (France) – AED10,224,868,000 (base offer), AED9,975,831,483 (alternative)

5. Obayashi (Japan) / Wade Adams (local) / Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC; Athens-based) / Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) – AED10,394,846,241 (base offer), AED10,341,846,241 (alternative offer)

*=All five consortiums provided financing offers.

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. 

History repeats itself with Dubai Metro low bid

Dubai Metro

Dubai Metro

In late February 2005 Dubai’s construction sector was stunned when a consortium led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation submitted the lowest bid for the contract to deliver the first phase of Dubai Metro.

The price, which was some 40 per cent lower than the second lowest price, was at the time considered by other bidders to be too low and impossible to deliver. Despite the concerns raised, Dubai Municipality, which was handling the project before the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) was created, went ahead and awarded the consortium the contract.

Just over 11 years later and history is repeating itself with Dubai receiving another bid for metro work that is significantly lower than the competition. On 6 March the RTA opened commercial offers the contract to design and build the new metro link connecting to the Expo 2020 site.

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