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Multi-billion dollar GCC rail projects underway this year
The contracts for multi-billion dollar GCC rail projects will be awarded towards the end of this year, and the project will be completely operation by 2016, it has been reported.
The plan, worth $25bn has been considered as financially feasible by all member states. According to Dr. Ramiz Al Assar, senior chief representative at the GCC Secretariat General, the contracts will be awarded at the end of this year or early next year.
The contractor will be chosen based on international competitive bidding process out of the long list of firms and then will be short-listed based on some prequalification.
The GCC Secretary General office is now long listing consulting firms for the detailed engineering design and is hoping to finalize the request for proposal and terms of reference next month.
According to Assar, the project is too big to be handed over to just one consulting firm, and will therefore require more companies working on it. Short-listing will be done in November this year, and the contracts will be awarded in December.
The GCC Secretariat General office will also consider formation of a GCC Railway Authority and plans to award contracts for the same in July.
Assar also said that it is vital to consider how several consultants working in the member states could be co-ordinated during the design phase of the project and about when the project gets into construction phase.
Saudi Arabia (2177km) and UAE (684km) have the longest rail lines. According to the officials, the project is estimated at $15.5bn if diesel is used, although the cost could reach $25bn for electricity option.
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