Ministry set to finalise bids for light metro rail by next month

TDT/Manama

The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications is all set to finalise the tender for construction of a light railway network spanning approximately 105 kilometres by next month. The tender was launched on 13th February last year. 

In February 2018, Spanish consulting company IDOM delivered the design for Phase I of the Bahrain Light Metro project. This project is the part of Bahrain's Urban Transit Network Project (BUTN) network that consists of a total of four metro lines covering a total network of 109 km.

After the evaluation of bids submitted by eight global consultancy firms, KPMG was emerged as the lowest bidder and selected for providing consultancy services for Phase I of the Bahrain Metro Project in November 2019. The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT) had announced the appointment of KPMG as the lowest bidder.

Out of the eight bids received three companies - Zayani Engineering, KPMG and PriceWaterCoopers - have remained in the race. Bids from Deloitte and Ernst and Young have been discarded, along with three other bidders.

The consultant is currently providing financial, technical and legal consultancy services to the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT) for the preparation of documents, tender, evaluation and appointment of the preferred bidder for construction.

The Bahrain Metro is a fully automated, driverless system that will operate through the main residential, business, administration and leisure spots in the Kingdom.

The Red and Blue lines to be built in Phase I of Bahrain Metro, which will run for a total of 28.6 km. The Red Line will connect Bahrain International Airport with the suburban Seef District through the Bahrain Financial Harbour, serving nine stations. Whereas the Blue Line will start from the Juffair suburb and go through the Diplomatic Area before ending at Isa Town, serving 11 stations.

The two lines will interconnect at the Bab Al Bahrain and Al Farooq Junction stations.