More than 400 companies have registered interest in construction contracts for Abu Dhabi’s planned metro and light rail project with the emirate’s Department of Transport (DoT).

Interested firms include Habtoor Leighton Group (UAE/Australia); Alstom (France), Arabtec (UAE); Balfour Beatty Rail (UK); Bam International (Netherlands); China Railway Corporation (China); Consolidated Contractors Company (Greece);  Hyundai Engineering and Construction (South Korea); Impregilo (Italy); Indra (Spain); Samsung C&T (South Korea); Queiroz Galvao Construction (Brazil), and WorleyParsons (Australia).

The DoT held two industry meetings on 30 April and 1 May and since then hundreds of local and international companies have submitted expressions of interest in the metro scheme.

Invitations for prequalification are expected to be released in July and a shortlist drawn up by October. The plan is to tender the first construction contracts in the first quarter of 2014.

There are two main components of the system. The first is a single 18-kilometre line between Zayed Sports City and the Mina Zayed/central business district area. There will be 17 stations on the line, 13 of which will be elevated.

The second is two light rail transit (LRT) systems and one bus rapid transport (BRT) system. The first LRT line will run from Marina Mall to Reem Island. Known as the Blue line, it will be 15km long and will have 24 stations.

A second LRT line will run from Karama to Saadiyat Island. Known as the Green line, it will be 13km long and will have 21 stations.

The DOT plans to split the metro line into three separate contracts.

Plans for the Abu Dhabi Metro began in 2010, when a consortium comprising US-based consultancy firms Aecom and Parsons Brinckerhoff and Germany’s DB International, also known as the Adapt group, won the contract to conduct the feasibility study for the project.

The same consortium also won the phase 2 contract covering the study and preliminary design work last November.

A design joint venture between Spanish firms Sener and Typsa is developing the LRT project, which includes the BRT line, for Abu Dhabi’s department of transport.