Saudi Arabia’s Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) has invited companies to submit bids for the contract to provide operation and maintenance services for the Riyadh Metro, which is under construction.

Operating firms have until 1 June to submit prequalification documents for the contract.  

ADA awarded the five main construction contracts for the six-line metro project in July 2013. Each package includes the supply of rolling stock.

Spanish firm FCC Construccion heads up the consortium known as FAST, while US firm Bechtel leads the BACS consortium. Italian firm Ansaldo STS is the leader of the Arriyadh New Mobility group.

The FAST consortium won lines 4, 5 and 6, which are reported to be valued at $7.82bn, the BACS consortium picked up the $9.45bn lines 1 and 2, while Arriyadh New Mobility secured line 3 for $5.21bn.

The planned metro network features six lines (Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow and Purple). It will have 85 air-conditioned stations. The six lines will have a total length of 180 kilometres.

The metro scheme is part of Riyadh’s Public Transport Project (PTP) plan approved by the Council of Ministers in 2012. The plan has been prepared by ADA for the development of the city of Riyadh.

The kingdom is also pressing ahead with plans for major metro projects in Mecca and Jeddah.

In October 2014, the Development Commission of Mecca and Mashaaer (DCOMM) received bids from contracting consortiums for two civil building packages that will include the construction of 46km of track and 22 stations for the Mecca metro project.

MEED recently reported that the Metro Jeddah Company was planning to tender the project management consultancy (PMC) and construction management contracts by the end of April for the Jeddah metro project. The client is expected to tender the main construction packages in 2016.