International contractors signify interest in metro system
8 November 2013German engineering giant Siemens is among international contractors interested in building Abu Dhabi’s USD 7bn metro and light rail project.
The project is expected to be complete by 2020 and will save the emirate billions of Dirhams in time lost to traffic congestion.
"Abu Dhabi has pumped a lot of efforts in the last years to build highways and tunnels," Joerg Scheifler, the chief executive for infrastructure and cities at Siemens in the Middle East, said on 28 October.
"When your population reaches one million, you should start building things like metros and trams. They have been talking about metro and trams for many years, but now they are serious."
Siemens notified the Abu Dhabi authorities a couple of months back of its readiness to undertake the engineering, procurement and construction and is now waiting for the prequalification process that is set to be complete in the fourth quarter, Scheifler said. The companies that prequalify will be allowed to bid for contracts in a tender process that may start sometime next year, he added.
