Egypt’s Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities and the Transport Ministry have extended the bid deadline for the contracts to design, build, finance and operate three rail schemes in the country.

The clients moved the tender closing date for the engineering, procurement, construction and finance (EPC+F) contract for the electric high-speed passenger and freight railway that will link Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast and the new Alamein city on the Mediterranean coast from 31 October to 17 December.

The bidders are expected to submit the technical, commercial and finance proposals for the scheme at the same time, a source familiar with the scheme tells MEED.

The new tender closing date for the two monorail packages linking Cairo’s Nasr District to the New Cairo Capital and Giza to 6 October City is on 14 November.

It is the third time the bids submission dates for both schemes have been extended.

A source working for the clients tells MEED the new tender submission dates “are final and there will be no further extensions.”

Earlier, a source involved in one of the two schemes told MEED that the original timeline was too short for bidders to prepare a satisfactory proposal given the comprehensive scope of the contract.

The nine groups expected to bid for the high-speed rail scheme are:

• Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (Italy) / Ansaldo (STS) & Hitachi (Italy/Japan) / Saipem (Italy)
• Vinci / Colas Rail / Alstom/ Bouygues Travaux / SNCF (all from France)
• Avic (China) / China Railway Group Engineering Corp (China) / Siemens (Germany) / Deutsche Bahn (Germany) / Orascom (local) / Arab Contractors (local)
• Power China (China) / El-Sewedy Electric (local)
• Mathia / Talgo (Spain) / Indra (Spain) / Inabensa (Spain)
• China Gezhouba Group (China) / China Railway Construction (China) / Samco National Construction (local)
• Hyundai Rotem (South Korea) / Eiffage (France) / Hassan Allam Sons (local) / Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) (Lebanon)
• China Civil Engineering Construction (CCEC) / China Railway 14th Bureau Group / China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute Group (CR5DI) (China)
• Norinco / China Real Estate Information Corporation (CRIC) / China Railway Design Corporation (CRDC) (China)

A consortium of US-based Aecom and French consultancy Systra prepared the terms of reference for the EPC+F contract.

The proposed 534 kilometre high-speed rail comprises the first phase of Egypt’s plan to build 2,000km of high-speed rail links to complement its existing mainline network.

A second 1,500km high-speed railway linking Sokhna and Marsa Alam on the western shore of the Red Sea is also planned. No specific timeline has yet been provided for the second line.

Prequalified teams expected to bid for the monorails contract include:

• Bombardier (Canada) / Orascom (local) / Arab Contractors (local)
• China Gezhouba Group (China) / China Railway Construction Corp (China) / Concord for Engineering & Construction (Egypt) / Samco (Egypt)
• China Railway (China) / Samcrete (local) / SNC Lavalin – Atkins (Canada) / Egyptian Railways Equipment (Semaf) (local)
• Chongqing International Construction / China Railway 11th Bureau Group (CRIIG) (all China)
• Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (Italy) / Ansaldo (STS) – Hitachi (Italy/Japan) / Saipem (Italy)
• Scomi (Malaysia) / Arabtec (local) / Ministry of Military Production for Projects and Engineering (local) / Shaker Consultancy Group (local)

The Nasr District to New Cairo Capital monorail will be 52km, while the Giza to 6 October City monorail will be 35km.

The government plans to procure both projects using a EPC+F model.

A consortium of Lebanon-based Khatib & Alami and Spanish firm Getinsa Ingenieria prepared the terms of reference for the contracts.

A consortium led by Canada’s Bombardier, and another team led by China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), had previously submitted an offer for the Giza to 6 October City monorail system.

The monorail schemes are expected to help decongest roads and streets in Cairo, and provide connectivity between the new urban centres outside the capital – such as 6 October City and New Cairo Capital – to the capital city's existing transport networks and airport.