Qatar awards $406.4 million in contracts for planned metro

Qatar Railways Co signed contracts worth $406.4 million for its planned $36 billion metro in the Qatari capital, as part of the tiny Gulf state’s preparations to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.
The company awarded a contract for consulting engineering services and project management with U.S. firm Jacobs Engineering Group JEC.N to manage the metro’s Red Line.
A team comprised of U.S.-based Louis Berger and France’s Egis Rail will manage the Gold Line and main stations, and U.S. firm Hill International HIL.N will manage the Green Line, Managing Director Abdullah al-Subaie told a news conference in Doha.
The three contracts are worth 1.14 billion Qatari riyals ($313.1 mln), he said.
An enabling works contract worth 288 million riyals ($79.1 mln) was also signed with PORR-SBG-HBK Group, a division of Qatari firm HBK Contracting Co.
Britain’s Lloyd’s Register won a contract for independent safety assessment worth 55 million riyals ($15 mln).
Qatar’s planned metro project will include four rail lines and will link stadiums for the 2022 tournament, with an underground component in the centre of the capital Doha. It is expected to employ more than 20,000 workers during the peak of construction.
Subaie said that a logistics coordinator for the project would be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"The tender has been floated, and it will be awarded in the fourth quarter," he said.
The contract to undertake design on tunneling work will be awarded in the first quarter of 2013, he said, adding that the total cost of the project was expected to be in line with previous projections of $36 billion.
"The metro will begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2019," he said.
Reuters
12 Aug