Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has received bids for the contract to undertake feasibility study, concept and preliminary design, tender preparation and award, and design review and contract administration for the extensions of the Dubai Metro Green and Red lines.

MEED understands five consortiums have formed to bid for the contract, which RTA tendered in March. They include:

• Aecom (US)/Systra (France)/WSP (Canada)/Arep (France)
• Atkins (UK)/Parsons (US)/Egis (France)/Grimshaw (UK)
• Dar al-Handasah (Lebanon)/Typsa (Spain)/Stantec (Canada)
• Deutsche Bahn (Germany)/Sener (Spain)/KEO (Kuwait)
• Mott Macdonald (UK)/AEDAS (UK)/AEC (local)/CallisonRTKL (US)/Turner & Townsend (UK)/SJ (Sweden)

It is understood that RTA included a feasibility study in the contract for a 7 kilometre line linking the Dubai Metro’s Green and Red lines.

The Green Line extension will start from its terminus at Creek station in the Jadaf area, cross to the Dubai Creek Harbour development, and go on to Ras al-Khor, International City and Dubai Silicon Oasis, before ending at Academic City. The extension line will have 11 stations.

The Red line extension will link its terminus in Rashidiya to Mirdif City Centre. It will extend over 3.5km and have one station.

It is understood that RTA has been considering the procurement of the 12 stations on the planned extension projects using a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

RTA may also procure transit-oriented development (TOD) schemes on up to four of the planned 11 stations on the Green line. TODs comprise commercial, residential and retail spaces in proximity to transport hubs, designed to increase public transport usage.

The Green line extension will benefit Dubai Creek Harbour, which is being developed by local firms Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties. The 6 square kilometre development will include a large shopping mall and The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, which, when completed, is expected to be the world’s tallest man-made structure.

MEED reported that local developer Emaar is working with the RTA on plans to build a 2km metro link directly connecting the Dubai Creek Harbour development in Ras al-Khor with Dubai International Airport.

Dubai is already working on a 15km extension to the Red line. In 2016, RTA awarded an AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) deal to design and build Dubai Metro’s Route 2020 link to a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Turkey’s Gulermak and France’s Alstom.

In March, Dubai’s Finance Department secured an AED9.2bn ($2.5bn) loan to finance the AED10.6bn Dubai Metro Route 2020 project.

It consists of a 17-year, AED5.2bn loan supported by French export credit agency Bpifrance Assurance Export and Spanish export credit agency (CESCE), with the 14-year amortisation expected to commence in 2020, and a 10-year conventional facility of AED4bn amortising over six years commencing in 2022.

The seven-station line extends 15km from the Nakheel Harbour and Tower station of the Dubai Metro Red line to the site of Expo 2020 Dubai. The work also includes an upgrade of the existing metro network.

The Dubai Metro Red and Green lines attracted more than 200 million passengers in 2017, up from just 38.9 million in 2010, the driverless metro’s first full year of operation.

The Green and Red line extensions are two of the future lines RTA is considering. In December 2016, the authority awarded UK-based Atkins a consultancy contract to update and modify proposed future metro lines and other public transport networks such as the tram.

The transport agency’s previous 2030 masterplan included a 421km-long railway network with 197 stations. The existing lines extend 74.6km.