Rapid urbanisation and economic growth are placing ever increasing demands on road networks in the Middle East and there is growing acknowledgement in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) on the need for infrastructure investment to ease traffic congestion. The situation is particularly acute in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where a rapidly growing population (from 150,000 in the 1960s, to a projected 9 million inhabitants by the end of the decade) has made the building of an urban rail system an imperative in order to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor traffic, and provide a framework for additional development. The opening of the first metro system in the GCC – in Dubai in 2009 – has helped spur regional ambitions for similar projects across the Middle East and North Africa.

In April 2012, the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia approved plans to develop a new public transport network in Riyadh by 2016 that would include both a metro and a new fleet of buses. Six lines totalling 175 km are planned as the backbone of the Saudi capital's public transport system, serving the city centre, government facilities, universities, commercial areas, King Khalid International Airport and the King Abdullah financial district.

The metro will include a mixture of underground and elevated construction, with a total subsurface length of nearly 49km. Line 1 will be 24km long, Line 2 26km and Line 3 42km. A fleet of 50 two-car trains will be required for Lines 1 and 2 which will each have a capacity of 5000 passengers per hour.

The Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA), which is overseeing public transport improvements in the capital, recently announced that four international consortia have prequalified for a contract to build the metro network. The four consortia were selected from 38 groups that were bidding for the project, highlighting the intense competition amongst contractors for lucrative metro projects in the Gulf. ADA plans to award the contract in mid-January 2013, with the first section of the light metro intended to open by the end of 2016.

  • One consortium is led by Vinci, France's largest-listed construction and concessions firm, and includes Germany's Siemens
  • A second is led by Canadian firm Bombardier and includes Turkey's Yapi Merkezi, Spain's Obrascon Huarte, Korea's GS Engineering and Construction Corp.
  • A third consortium is led by Spain's FCC Construction. It includes France's Alstom Transport and Korea's Samsung C&T Corp.
  • The fourth consortium is led by Austria's Strabag and includes Switzerland's Stadler Rail, India's Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Britain's Hyder Consulting and U.S. firm Worley Parsons.

Given the scale of the project, ADA has indicated that more than one consortium may be involved with construction split into different "packages". The shortlisted prequalified companies are bidding to design and build Lines 1 and 2 and/or 3, and the remaining companies will be invited to tender for Lines 4,5 and 6 at a later date. The winner of the tender will provide all of the design and engineering for the specific project, as well as constructing an underground network, providing electric trains and constructing bridges and subway tunnels.

Under Saudi law, the maintenance service contracts for each package will require the involvement of local staff, and would include training, knowledge transfer and possibly the establishment of an assembly plant for rolling stock in Riyadh that would later evolve into the maintenance facility for the metro.

There is growing appetite in the Kingdom for substantial investment in infrastructure. This is reflected in the $26.9 billion pledged to upgrade the country's transport infrastructure over the next five years. Indeed, $157 billion of rail projects are either planned or under way across the Middle East and North Africa region.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.