Metro projects for Bursa and Adana cities are still being pursued by their municipalities, despite general uncertainty about the state of the economy. Best and final offers have been invited for Bursa metro, and bids are now due in for Adana's scheme on 20 July.

The call for final offers for the Bursa metro follows the local elections at the end of March, when control of the municipality was won by the main opposition Motherland Party (ANAP) from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP). The new administration wants to ensure it receives the best deal possible, officials say. The call has heightened already fierce competition for the contract.

Rebids of about $290 million were returned in February in a second round of tendering from a consortium of the local Guris with Italy's Ansaldo and Breda Costruzioni Ferroviari, and France's Sofretu; and a group of locals Bayindir and Yuksel with Germany's Siemens (MEED 11:3:94). This compared with an original low bid of about $312 million returned by the Guris consortium. Also included in the BFO call is another grouping of Germany's AEG and the local Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya (ST-FA).

The 14.5-kilometre first phase of the metro will run from the city's organised industrial zone via a central inter-city bus terminal at Sirameseler to the Sehrekusu district. It will have 14 stops and three large stations, to be served by 24 trains with three carriages each. Work will take about 27 months. The metro masterplan calls for five stages to be built over 20 years.

However, once a contract is finally awarded, the municipality still has to obtain sanction for the foreign borrowing involved in the 100 per cent credit financing packages. The same applies to the Adana metro. At present, as part of a 5 April austerity package, the treasury is looking for cuts of 20 per cent in development expenditure.

The $300 million metro planned by Adana municipality will be 13.5 kilometres long. It will run between 100 Yil and Yuregir, and include about 13 stations.