Qatar Railways Development Company says there will be 14 packages for the Fifa 2022 Priority Phase 1, which covers the Doha metro.

The 14 packages will cover rolling stock, systems, civils and preparatory works.

Dividing the work into different packages, means many consortiums can win deals and the project will not be dominated by one main contractor.

Each package will be worth between $800m and $1.5bn. A single contract would be $14bn altogether, which is too large a budget for one package, making it harder for contractors and time management.

By the end of 2011, QRail will tender the nine tenders that cover civil works, says Martin Bay, vice-president of Qatar Railways Development Company.

Expressions of interest for civil works are due in on 25 September. About 280 companies have already requested the expressions of interest (EoI) documents. There will be no prequalification after the EoI stage.

The first award for civil works will be in the first quarter of 2012 with construction set to start in mid-2012.

The bulk of civil works will be carried out by design and build contracts.

Track-laying for the project will start in 2015. Station fitout, including mechanical, electrical and plumbing works will take place from 2017 to 2019. Rail systems and installations will be ready by 2017-18.

Qatar is working on establishing a national railway authority, the Qatar National Railway Committee and the legal backbone of the rail project will be established within next 12 months, says Bay.

Qatar aims to have no ongoing surface construction in Doha by the time the Fifa 2022 World Cup starts.

Minimising the impact of construction on surface traffic in Doha will be a major challenge. A study into how to minimise this will be awarded this year.

Construction will involve the excavation of 25,000 tonnes of earth every day, mainly from the tunnelling works.