Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) is preparing to issue a request for qualification (RFQ) for the rolling stock and systems package on the Kuwait metro in the first half of 2013.

“The RFQ is just waiting on the green light from government. It will be issued in the first half of next year,” said Abraham Akkawi, partner and head of infrastructure and PPP Advisory Services, Ernst and Young, speaking at MEED’s Kuwait Energy and Infrastructure Projects 2012. Ernst & Young, along with the UK’s Ashurst and Atkins, is advising the PTB on the development of the project.

The rolling stock package is the first to be tendered on the 61-kilometre-long first phase of the Kuwait metro. The PTB received more than 60 expressions of interest (EOI) in June. The first phase will link Salmiya to the airport and will contain 29 stations. It will include a 16km underground section located beneath Kuwait’s Central Business District.

Construction on the rolling stock is scheduled to begin in early 2014. In addition to the rolling stock package, the civil infrastructure for the first phase, which includes large civil works and tunnels, will be split into four separate packages.

The metro is being built in five phases until 2035. When completed the metro will be 170km long and is part of Kuwait’s plans to cope with its rapidly growing population.