Six major contracts for $37bn Qatar Rail announced

Geoff Mee, deputy CEO for Qatar Rail.

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Six major contracts that cover the first phase of Qatar’s $37bn integrated rail system will go out to tender in April, says a senior official linked to the project.

Qatar Rail deputy CEO Geoff Mee told delegates at the Qatar Projects 2012 conference that the country’s bid for the 2020 Olympic Games had accelerated plans to have enough of the Metro operational in time, should the bid be successful.

“We have to plan for winning the Olympics because if we wait until the announcement, we will be too late in order to build it in time,” Mee said.

The Olympic bid means the Metro will have to be completed 18 months earlier than originally planned.

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“The first contracts will be for four tunnelling packages: Each of those tunnelling packages will be worth, in the order of $2-3bn, and then there will be two packages for major station works for Msheireb and Education City. They will be a lesser value by still enormous by international standards,” Mee said

Around 30 consortia have prequalified for the contracts, and they will be called in to make presentations to Qatar Rail’s technical staff over the next month. The object of the exercise is to not only get clarity on the projects, but to also reduce the number of consortia invited to bid for the lucrative deals on offer. RFPs for the tunnelling work and station boxes will go out in April.

“So, you’ll need to sharpen your pencils, you’ll need to make sure your best teams are available. I expect to see, at those interviews, the teams that will deliver the work; please don’t make the mistake of sending me the marketing manager and the guy that makes the tea to make these presentations. I want to see the people that are going to do the work, and you will be marked down of they don’t turn up. And if you’ve promised to supply the A-team, and the C-team reserves turn up, you will be penalised,” Mee warned.

“We’ve been quite clear: Qatar is paying really good, world class money for world class teams. Anybody who attempts to sell off the second division to Qatar, which is in the first division in the world, will receive a very short shift from us.

Requests for proposals (RFPs) for enabling works from each of the 30 shortlisted consortia also went out on Monday, and companies will be invited to present their bids to Qatar Railways. Announcements on those are expected later in the year, with a view to work commencing in October.

“Timescales are very tight. We’ve not had much time, I don’t see why you should either,” Mee told delegates.

“The major station box contracts will be issued as RFP in early April as well. Once we’ve taken breath with putting those out, we’ll be working hard on the elevated sections, and there will be expressions of interest for station fit out, rolling stock and the systems, that will commence later in the year,” Mee said.