Potential bidders have until 24 October to submit their prequalification applications for the engineering, procurement, construction and finance (EPC+F) package for the second line of Iran’s Shiraz Metro.

The metro’s 15 kilometre Line 2 will intersect with Line 1 at Imam Hossein Square. Construction works on the line was understood to have started in 2014.

However, the project encountered “some financial issues” leading the client, Shiraz Municipality, to restart the procurement process, a source with knowledge of the scheme tells MEED.

Shiraz Metro’s Line 1 extends 22 kilometres from Gol-e-Sorkh Square to Ehsan Square. The 10.5km first phase of Line 1 began operations in October 2014 while a 10.5km second phase was inaugurated in August last year.

MEED understands a fleet of five-car trainsets supplied by China CNR Corporation caters to the metro line.

A third metro line is in the planning stage. It will run 16km from Mirza Koochik Khan Square to Sadra New Town.

Shiraz is the capital of Fars Province in southern Iran. Its estimated 1.7 million population makes it the country’s fifth most populous city.