1 August 2004

DUBAI - Dubai's dream of a sophisticated urban rail system is getting nearer to reality with the expected announcement this month or early next month of the shortlisted bidders in the pre-qualification process.

According to sources in the construction industry, six potential bidders for the Dh14.3 billion Light Rail Project have been shortlisted from more than 50 bidders for the civil content of the project. They include four contracting joint ventures and two stand-alone bidders. It is learnt that the potential four joint ventures that are said to be among the top-six are: Bilfinger Taisei / Besix, Boygues/ Vinci/ Hochtief/ CC IC, Consorcio Dutco Balfour Beatty/ RoyalBam-Interbeton/ Parsons Transportation  and Obayashi/ Yapi Merkezi.

The two stand-alone bidders include the Saudi-based Bin Laden Group and Odebrecht, a South African company. Out of 14.3 billion capital cost, Dh5.5 billion will be for civil engineering work and a fleet of 99 five-car trains will be maintained at a depot in the Al Quoz Industrial area.  The noise-free and environmentally friendly metro system, the first phase of which is to be ready by 2009, will have two lines. The first called the Red Line will stretch 50 kilometres and will link Rashidiya in the north east to Jebel Ali Port in the south west. The line will start at Dafza on the north side of Dubai Creek running for 4.7 kilometres under the Creek and then along  Shaikh Zayed Road. Around 45.3 kilometres of the red line will be elevated above the ground level and there will be 29 elevated and six underground stations. The Green Line will stretch 19.2 kilometres and will be extended to serve the Deira and Bur Dubai central areas up to BurJuman and Wafi shopping centres. It will also serve Dubai International Airport where two stations will be situated at separate terminals.

The metro system will be constructed in two phases. The first valued at Dh8.5 billion will require a fleet of 57 trains, which are expected to be up and running on the red line by 2010 and  phase two will tentatively be completed by 2013.

There will be a total of 55 stations across the Emirate of Dubai, each built at one to three kilometre gaps. Moreover, the train fares will range between Dh 2 to Dh 10 and there are also plans to use the rail network for goods train at night to make the project more feasible. It is anticipated that the metro system will carry an average of 43,000 passengers every hour to meet the demand for public transport beyond 2017 and the project will outweigh the costs as the population of Dubai is expected to reach three million by 2020.

The trains will run automatically and without a driver with special compartment for women and children.

This project will eventually reduce the pressure from Dubai's road network as since the last three decades, the municipality has built 9100 lane -km of roads at a cost of Dh8.4 billion, according to Nasser Ahmed Saeed, director of Roads Department and the general co-ordinator for the rail project.  

BY MOUSHUMI DAS CHAUDHURY

© Khaleej Times 2004