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More than 80 groups among qualified bidders for Doha Metro phase one

Nearly 80 to 90 groups have been qualified as bidders for the Qatar Railways Company (QRail) Doha Metro Phase One projects, as revealed by Arabian Business.com.

The tenders for phase one of the Doha Metro project are likely to be issued by second quarter of 2012, a senior QRail official has revealed.

The QRail Programme Director for Metro Red Line, Markus Demmler said that it is open to further bids in the 15 design and build contracts, as the company is waiting to get maximum bidders. Each project will have about five bidders.

The groups were earlier invited to submit expressions of interest in the Metro Civil Contracts of QRail towards end of summer. Each will be worth $700mn to $1.5bn, Demmler said.

Bids for the first design and build contract will be called during second quarter of 2012. Demmler said that QRail intends to have conferences with qualified companies in the next couple of months.

According to Demmler, the tight schedule is the biggest challenge, as it has to be ready by 2020. The Phase one includes the Red Line which will run from south of Doha to Lusail city and beyond. It will also involve the green line and grade and the elevated parts of the metro. The first phase will include 62km of underground structures, and 30km of elevated structures or at grade.

The underground work requiring tunnel boring machines (TBMs), will involve building 49km of twin tunnels. The second phase will include north-west of Green Line and the Blue Line. It will involve building nearly 110km of underground structures.

The second phase will begin in next five years. It involves the two challenging task of doing the tunnelling, and to get material from tunnelling out of the city. QRail has already identified the sites for logistic and production areas that will support construction sites, Demmler said.

Posted on 20/12/2011