Companies seeking to prequalify for civil construction contracts for the first phase of Mecca’s new metro must have SR4bn ($1.1bn) in average annual construction turnover, according to the tender document issued by the Development Commission of Mecca and Mashaaer.

For firms submitting bids with one or more partners, each of them must meet 80 per cent of the annual construction turnover requirement, or SR3.2bn.

The annual construction turnover requirement is calculated as the total certified payments received for contracts in progress or completed, within the last six years.

According to the tender document, prospective bidders must have a cash flow amount of SR150m.

The first phase of the scheme will cover the partial construction of lines B and C. Line B is 12 kilometres in length with seven stations and to be mostly underground.

Line C covers 22km of track with 15 stations, and the depot civil works.

Potential bidders are invited to prequalify for one or both lines, although both packages will not be awarded to the same contractor. The deadline for submissions is 5 January 2014.

The tender document includes the following map showing each of the phases and sections of the upcoming metro.

The scheme is being built to meet the anticipated growth in religious tourists visiting the holy city during the Muslim pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah in the coming years.

It is just one element of a wider SR60bn ($16.5bn) transport programme for Mecca known as the Mecca Public Transport Programme (MPTP), which includes a bus network.

The long-term plan is to build a total of four rail lines covering more than 180km of track and 88 stations. Phase 2 will cover the construction of a 27.7km Line A, while Phase 3 will cover the construction of a 34.1km line D and a 5.5km extension to Line C.

In early July, US firm Parsons Brinckerhoff was awarded the $93.6m project management contract for the MPTP.

The metro’s feasibility study was prepared by a joint venture of France’s Systra and the US-based Aecom. The firms were appointed as consultants in April 2012.

The rail project was originally planned to be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, but in December, MEED reported that the kingdom had dropped plans to procure the scheme through PPP.