05 May 2012
MUSCAT -- International companies competing for a keenly awaited, but much-delayed, contract for the Design & Supervision of Oman's National Rail Project have been asked to extend their bid bonds to July 5, 2012, fuelling expectations that an award is likely in the coming months.
Five consortiums, each led by leading names in the global rail engineering and construction industry, are bidding for a four-year contract to undertake the detailed engineering design of the proposed 1,000-kilometre-long rail network.
Last month, the Tender Board faxed letters to the bidders' representatives in the Sultanate directing them to extend their bid bonds by 90 days to July 5, in the latest of a series of extensions that have characterised this long overdue contract award. All five bidders are understood to have since complied.
Bid bonds, which are guarantees that the winning bidder will undertake the contract under the terms at which they bid, are typically valid for not more than 90 days, and are routinely renewed at the client's behest.
According to officials, the delay in the announcement of an award for the Design & Supervision package is an inevitable outcome of the project's transfer last year from the Supreme Committee for Town Planning to the Ministry of Transport & Communications. As the move did not include any of the staff who had handled the rail project from its inception, the Ministry was compelled to build a dedicated Rail Team from scratch, thus resulting in an unavoidable lapse of time.
Significantly, the Ministry has also appointed internationally reputed consultants to assist its staff in undertaking a review of various aspects of the complex project -- an exercise that is ongoing, an official said.
"This project is part of a Gulf-wide rail network, and the Ministry is carefully evaluating it in terms of how to proceed. As it is part of a bigger effort between the GCC and Oman, the Ministry is taking the project very seriously and according it priority attention," the official added.
The line-up of contenders for the key Design & Supervision contract is as follows:
. AECOM, a US-headquartered global provider of professional technical and management support services, along Cowi & Partners, the well-known international consulting group, and DBI, an affiliate of the German government-owned railway organisation DB; (ii) Partnership of French-based international rail consultants Systra and US-based Parsons, one of the world's largest engineering and construction organizations, along with Atkins of the UK;
(iii) Consortium headed by Mott MacDonald, a leading global management, engineering and development consultancy, and including Italferr SpA, a reputed Italian rail infrastructure company, and WorleyParsons, a well-known international provider of professional services to the resources and energy sectors; (iv) Partnership of eight Korean firms led by Korea Rail, a major player in South Korea's rail sector; and (v) Consortium led by Prointec Group, a Spanish based multidisciplinary engineering services provider, and including well-known Spanish-based engineering entities Idom, Eurostudies and ALG.
The successful bidder will be required to prepare the preliminary design for all the elements of the railway project. Upon approval of the preliminary designs, the consultant will then proceed with the detailed design of the alignment and infrastructure; bridges, culverts and tunnels; railway stations and yards; rail track; and overhead electrical infrastructure, among other elements. Additionally, the consultant will develop specifications for rolling stock and other systems.
Oman's National Railway System is part of the proposed inter-GCC railway network that will run from Kuwait to Muscat, and onward to Salalah and possibly to Yemen. In the first phase, a 240 km section will be developed from the industrial hub of Sohar to Muscat, followed by a 486 km coastal rail network from Muscat to Duqm in the second phase.
Given the gargantuan size of the project, there is some speculation that the Tender Board may select more than one bidder to undertake the Design & Supervision package. While the Muscat-Sohar-Khatmat Malaha-Al Ain network is likely to be awarded to one bidder, the Salalah-Duqm line may be hived off to another bidder, it is learnt.
In later phases, an extension from Duqm to Salalah (696 km), and possibly from Duqm to Al Mazyounah Free Trade Zone close to Oman's border with Yemen, are envisaged. A branch line linking Sohar with Al Ain on the UAE border is on the cards as well.
MUSCAT -- International companies competing for a keenly awaited, but much-delayed, contract for the Design & Supervision of Oman's National Rail Project have been asked to extend their bid bonds to July 5, 2012, fuelling expectations that an award is likely in the coming months.
Five consortiums, each led by leading names in the global rail engineering and construction industry, are bidding for a four-year contract to undertake the detailed engineering design of the proposed 1,000-kilometre-long rail network.
Last month, the Tender Board faxed letters to the bidders' representatives in the Sultanate directing them to extend their bid bonds by 90 days to July 5, in the latest of a series of extensions that have characterised this long overdue contract award. All five bidders are understood to have since complied.
Bid bonds, which are guarantees that the winning bidder will undertake the contract under the terms at which they bid, are typically valid for not more than 90 days, and are routinely renewed at the client's behest.
According to officials, the delay in the announcement of an award for the Design & Supervision package is an inevitable outcome of the project's transfer last year from the Supreme Committee for Town Planning to the Ministry of Transport & Communications. As the move did not include any of the staff who had handled the rail project from its inception, the Ministry was compelled to build a dedicated Rail Team from scratch, thus resulting in an unavoidable lapse of time.
Significantly, the Ministry has also appointed internationally reputed consultants to assist its staff in undertaking a review of various aspects of the complex project -- an exercise that is ongoing, an official said.
"This project is part of a Gulf-wide rail network, and the Ministry is carefully evaluating it in terms of how to proceed. As it is part of a bigger effort between the GCC and Oman, the Ministry is taking the project very seriously and according it priority attention," the official added.
The line-up of contenders for the key Design & Supervision contract is as follows:
. AECOM, a US-headquartered global provider of professional technical and management support services, along Cowi & Partners, the well-known international consulting group, and DBI, an affiliate of the German government-owned railway organisation DB; (ii) Partnership of French-based international rail consultants Systra and US-based Parsons, one of the world's largest engineering and construction organizations, along with Atkins of the UK;
(iii) Consortium headed by Mott MacDonald, a leading global management, engineering and development consultancy, and including Italferr SpA, a reputed Italian rail infrastructure company, and WorleyParsons, a well-known international provider of professional services to the resources and energy sectors; (iv) Partnership of eight Korean firms led by Korea Rail, a major player in South Korea's rail sector; and (v) Consortium led by Prointec Group, a Spanish based multidisciplinary engineering services provider, and including well-known Spanish-based engineering entities Idom, Eurostudies and ALG.
The successful bidder will be required to prepare the preliminary design for all the elements of the railway project. Upon approval of the preliminary designs, the consultant will then proceed with the detailed design of the alignment and infrastructure; bridges, culverts and tunnels; railway stations and yards; rail track; and overhead electrical infrastructure, among other elements. Additionally, the consultant will develop specifications for rolling stock and other systems.
Oman's National Railway System is part of the proposed inter-GCC railway network that will run from Kuwait to Muscat, and onward to Salalah and possibly to Yemen. In the first phase, a 240 km section will be developed from the industrial hub of Sohar to Muscat, followed by a 486 km coastal rail network from Muscat to Duqm in the second phase.
Given the gargantuan size of the project, there is some speculation that the Tender Board may select more than one bidder to undertake the Design & Supervision package. While the Muscat-Sohar-Khatmat Malaha-Al Ain network is likely to be awarded to one bidder, the Salalah-Duqm line may be hived off to another bidder, it is learnt.
In later phases, an extension from Duqm to Salalah (696 km), and possibly from Duqm to Al Mazyounah Free Trade Zone close to Oman's border with Yemen, are envisaged. A branch line linking Sohar with Al Ain on the UAE border is on the cards as well.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
