Abu Dhabi’s Transport Department (DoT) is holding talks to extend until December 2019 consultancy contracts  for the emirate’s metro and light rail transit (LRT) schemes.

MEED understands the contracts expire on 31 December 2018.

In 2012, Aecom and Parsons Brinckerhoff, both US-based, and Germany’s DB International won the study and preliminary design contract for the metro scheme while a Spanish joint venture of Typsa and Sener won the LRT consultancy contract.

According to sources familiar with the plan, they do not expect DoT to issue the main contract tenders for both schemes before 2020. “They will probably want to assess and review the preliminary designs submitted in 2013 [before proceeding to main contract tendering],” one of the sources tell MEED.

Earlier this year, DoT invited firms to bid for pre-tender consultancy services for both schemes.

The study seeks to establish:

• Signage and way finding, common components, retail and advertising guidelines
• Guidelines for park and ride facilities
• Detouring and construction lay-down study
• Stations naming rights
• Guidelines for building information management(BIM).

The metro and LRT projects are part of Abu Dhabi’s $68bn Surface Transport Masterplan, first announced in 2009.

In early 2012, the Abu Dhabi Executive Council (Adec), the local executive authority, approved the DoT budget for the consultancy work on the metro and tram networks.

The projects moved into the construction procurement stage in the second quarter of 2013 when the client invited contractors to submit expressions of interest. More than 400 companies did so, with prequalification starting two months later.

However, ownership of the estimated $7bn metro and LRT project was transferred in late 2013 to Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada), as part of a general transfer of major transport and healthcare projects to the specialist project client arm of the government.

Musanada was expected to issue tenders for the construction of the metro and LRT schemes by the end of 2014, with awards scheduled for 2015. However, no award was made in 2015 and ownership of the projects has changed twice since.

They were first transferred to the Department of Municipality and Transport (DMAT), which was understood to be preparing tender documents for the funding and advisory packages for the metro and LRT networks in early 2017.

The restructuring of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council (Adec) in September last year, however, has meant the projects are now back under DoT.