Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) opened bids from contractors for the contract to design and build Dubai Metro’s Blue Line on 8 October.

The group of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, Egypt’s Arab Contractors, the local Binladin Contracting Group and Spain’s CAF submitted the lowest-priced base offer of AED22.3bn ($6bn), which was about 6% less than the second-lowest offer.

The second-lowest base offer of AED23.8bn was submitted by a consortium made up of Turkiye’s Limak Holding; Mapa Group, also of Turkiye; and the Hong Kong office of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).

The third-ranked base offer was submitted by a consortium of Spain’s FCC, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and France’s Alstom, with a price of AED24.1bn.

The fourth-placed base offer was from India’s Larsen & Toubro, China’s Powerchina, the local Wade Adams and Hitachi, with a price of AED27bn.

The highest-priced base offer was submitted by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and Germany’s Siemens, with a price of AED41bn.

The group of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, Arab Contractors, Binladin Contracting Group and CAF also submitted alternative offers of AED23.9bn, AED25.2bn and AED21.5bn.

The group of Limak, Mapa and CRRC submitted alternative offers of AED23.5bn and AED23.9bn.

The Larsen & Toubro, Powerchina, Wade Adams and Hitachi group submitted an alternative offer of AED25bn.

The design-and-build contractor will be responsible for all civil works, electromechanical works, rolling stock and rail systems. After completing the project, the contractor will assist in maintenance and operations for an initial three-year period.

The Blue Line will connect the existing Red and Green lines. It will have a total length of 30 kilometres (km), 15.5km underground and 14.5km above ground.

The line will have 14 stations, seven of which will be elevated. There will be five underground stations, including one interchange station, and two elevated transfer stations connected to the existing Centrepoint and Creek stations.

The scope of the contract also includes the supply of 28 driverless trains, the construction of a depot to accommodate up to 60 trains and the construction of all associated roads, facilities and utility diversion works.

The detailed scope of work for the project includes:

• Civil works, including detailed design and construction of architectural and structural components (including viaducts, tunnels and stations)
• Design and execution of electromechanical works
• Design, procurement and delivery of operation and control systems for rail, stations and facilities
• Design, manufacturing and supply of rolling stock.

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, approved the Blue Line extension project last year. In a post on social media network X, formerly Twitter, he said the project will cost AED18bn ($4.9bn) and will have a length of 30km, half of which will be underground.

He added that the extensions will transport 320,000 passengers a day and serve a population of about 1 million people living in areas such as Festival City, International City, Rashidiya, Warqa, Mirdif, Silicon Oasis and Academic City.