Saudi Arabia’s Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) has prequalified four consortiums to bid for construction packages on the estimated $7bn-8bn Riyadh metro project.

ADA received prequalification entries from more than 100 companies in various consortiums in late June and is preparing to invite four to bid for the main construction packages. The metro project is to be tendered through several design and build packages, which will include the supply of rolling stock.

The four prequalified consortiums are:

• Vinci Construction Grand Projects (France)/Siemens (Germany)/Al-Mabani General Contractors (local)/Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC)(Athens-based)/Aecom (US)
• Al-Rahji consortium – Al-Rahji Holding (local)/ Al-Arrab Contracting Company (local)/Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) (Spain)/Yapi Merkezi Insaat (Turkey)/GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)/Bombardier (Canada)/Shibh al-Jazira Contracting Company (local)/Mott Macdonald (UK)/Parsons Brinckerhoff (US)
• FCC Construccion (Spain)/Alstom Transport (France)/Samsung C&T Corporation(South Korea)/Alpine (Germany)/Strukton Civiel Projecten (Netherlands)/ Setec (France)/Tecnica Y Proyectos (Spain)
• Ansaldo (Spain)/Stadler (Switzerland)

The metro will contain six lines with a total length of 180 kilometres. The project is planned to be split into several work packages that can be carried out by a number of consortiums.

The four consortiums have been prequalified for the whole metro project, but the construction packages will be split into different packages. The client is expected to shortlist prequalified firms to bid for the package to design and build lines 1 and 2 and/or 3, and will invited the prequalified firms to tender lines 4,5 and 6 at a later date.

The first line will run in a North-South direction alongside and under Olaya and Bat’ha streets. The line will start from the north at Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Street and end at Hayer Road in the south. The line will run for 44km and contain 39 stations.

The second proposed line will run along King Abdullah Road, from King Saud University and the Eastern Sub Centre. It will be approximately 22.5km in length and will contain 13 stations.

The third line will run alongside and under parts of the Al-Madinah and Al-Munawwararh roads. The line will be about 45km long and will contain 32 stations.

Line 4 will run north to south alongside Prince Saud bin-Muhammad bin Muqrin street, from the King Abdullah Financial District and the terminal at King Khaled International airport. The line will be about 32km long and contain 13 stations.

The fifth line will run in the North-South direction alongside and under King Abdulaziz street. The line will run between King Abdullah Financial District and Bat’ha street. The line will be about 26km long and contain 25 stations.

Line 6 will run in an East-West direction along Abdulrahman bin Aouf Street and Sheikh Hassan bin Hussein bin Ali street. It will extend between Prince Saad bin Abdulrahman street and King Abdullah road. The line will have an approximate length of 12 km and contain nine stations.

Beirut-based Dar al-Handasah and France’s Egis Rail have worked on preliminary designs for the metro project.

The metro project is part of Riyadh’s Public Transport Project (PTP) plan that was approved by the Council of Ministers on 23 April. The plan has been prepared by the High Authority for the development of the city of Riyadh.