Saudi issues tender for Riyadh metro

Saudi Arabian authorities have launched a tender process to develop a new metro transit system in the capital Riyadh. In a notice on the Arriyadh Development Authority’s website, “global consortia” were invited to bid to provide infrastructure including rolling stock and telecommunications, as well as tunnelling, civil, mechanical and electrical works. The notice said that suppliers had until 20 June 2012 to submit their applications for prequalification to the development authority’s headquarters in Riyadh. No details on the network’s cost, completion date or capacity were provided on the website. In February, newspaper Saudi Gazette reported that the kingdom’s Ministry of Transport had approved the development of light rail networks in both Riyadh and Jeddah. The report added that the transport systems were aimed at alleviating traffic jams and bottlenecks in Saudi cities and that authorities were also carrying out plausibility studies into public transport projects in Hail, Abha, Khamis Mushayt and Uhud Rufaidah.