Technical and financial evaluations have been carried out on bids for civil work on phase 1 of the Mecca metro project, according to Abdullah al-Marshad, deputy CEO of the Makkah Mass Rail Transit Company (MMRTC), speaking at MEED’s MENA Rail & Metro Summit.

MMRTC hopes to award the contract by the end of 2015, but is waiting for higher level approval.

DB3 system bids are under financial evaluation.

Once contracts have been awarded, the first phase should take four years to complete. Al-Marshad hopes the project will be completed in 2020 or 2021.

“We are under huge pressure to perform this project in fast track,” says al-Marshad. “There is an urgent need to do fast as there is no modern public transport in Mecca.”

The project involves six lines extending 182km and involving 88 stations. Each station platform is around 200m long to deal with high volumes of passengers. It will take 20 years to carry out.

The first phase comprises lines B and C, around 45km long with 22 stations.

The civil works are split into two geographical areas, rather than lines. The work in north-west Mecca is underground, while in the south-east it is elevated.

Line B stretches from the northwest to the east, connecting the Haram to the high-speed rail station. It has an interchange with Line C, which comes from the north west to end just south of the Haram.

Land acquisition is still underway.

Around SR250bn ($67bn) is being invested in developing Mecca over ten years, including SR100bn for land acquisition and SR100 to 110bn for the expansion of the Haram.