Bids were submitted by France's Alstom, Canada's Bombardierand a consortium of Germany's Siemens and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) of Spain, but Bombardier is understood to have withdrawn from the running. An award is expected on 16 May.

The contract calls for the supply of tracks and rolling stock, provision of energy, signalling and telecommunications systems, construction of a control centre and office building and completion of part-built workshops on the planned nine-kilometre, 10-station line between Tafourah and Hai el-Badr. Work is set for completion in 2008, although sources close to the project say that further delays may be incurred.

Alstom is understood to be the frontrunner for the contract, as the financing for its bid is already in place. In July 2004, Algiers signed a memorandum with the French government under which Paris agreed to provide a financial package worth Eur 2,000 million ($2,587 million) to fund economic development (MEED 30:7:04). The majority of these funds is available for the Algiers metro project, on condition that 75 per cent of the work be done in France. The Siemens consortium is understood to be in talks with Spanish and German financial institutions to secure financing for its bid.

An award is also due by mid-May on the consultancy contract for the supervision of the line 1 systems implementation. Bids have been submitted by: France's Systra; a consortium of Canada's Dessau-Soprin, France's Thales and a local company; Deutsch Consultant (DeC) of Germany; and a Spanish-Portuguese consortium of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, Metro de Madridand Metropolitano de Lisboa.

Companies have until the end of May to bid for the contract to examine and update existing studies for the 3.5-kilometre line 1 extension from Tafourah to Oued Koriche. No schedule has yet been announced for the extension, but Algiers has said that it wants work to begin as soon as possible.

A consortium of Systra and SGTA, also of France, was in mid-2003 awarded the 36-month supervision contract to oversee civil works on the 4.1-kilometre Hamma-Hai el-Badr section of line 1. The Eur 145 million ($188 million) contract for the 33-month civil works package, which includes construction of the four intermediate stations and 3.9 kilometres of tunnels, was in June 2003 awarded to Groupement Algero Allemande du Metro d'Alger (GAAMA), a consortium of Germany's Dywidag International and local firms Consider and Infrafer (MEED 4:7:03). Work is due for completion in mid-2006.

Work on the line 1 section between Tafourah and Hamma was begun by local contractors in the 1990s, and the shell construction of 4.5 kilometres of tunnel and five stations is complete. Industry sources says that plans for a second line may be abandoned in favour of a tramway system.