Egypt’s Housing Ministry has completed the technical and financial evaluation for the contract to build, finance, operate and maintain a monorail in Greater Cairo.

It is understood that the Housing Ministry has submitted its recommendations to the Prime Minister’s office for approval, which is required before the contract is awarded to the preferred bidder.

“The government review could take at least two months,” a source familiar with the transaction tells MEED.

Two consortiums, one led by Canada’s Bombardier and the other by China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), have submitted an offer for the contract in 2015.

Both groups have submitted a competitive offer although Bombardier’s extensive experience in rail projects globally could give it a slight advantage over the Chinese group, another source tells MEED.

The planned monorail will extend 35 kilometres from 6th October City and Sheikh Zayed City to the transport networks in Greater Cairo.

MEED earlier reported that the Prime Minister’s office will decide on the winning bidder based on the final offer that will be presented by both groups according to three variations of daily passenger volumes: one for 200,000, another for 250,000, and a final one for 300,000, according to a local media report.

The project was initially being supervised by the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development, which announced in May 2015 that it had commissioned the Canadian-led team to build the $1.5bn monorail. The monorail was to be completed in 2018.

Egypt’s Ministry of Transport (MoT) subsequently took over the scheme in late 2015, and said it would be working closely with the Housing Ministry on the project’s implementation. CGGC subsequently submitted an offer.

It is understood both groups have initially proposed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)-plus-finance model, with the Chinese group understood to have proposed providing loans through Export-Import Bank of China.