By Michael Fahy www.thenational.ae
Contractors have resubmitted bids for sections of Stage Two of the Etihad Rail project, but no bids have yet been received for a key section linking the network from Abu Dhabi and on to Oman as part of the wider GCC network.
Stage Two of the Etihad Rail project covers the link from the Saudi Arabian border to the existing line between Ruwais and Tarif, and then moves through Abu Dhabi before terminating at the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. A spur also moved through Al Ain and connected to Oman’s rail network.
Contractors initially submitted bids to build Stage Two in December 2012, but Ed James, the director of analysis at Meed Projects, said that Etihad Rail cancelled the tender during the summer.
New tenders were then issued containing four separate packages, but they did not include the Al Ain spur containing the GCC link to Oman. The spur was subsequently included as an addendum, but contractors who bid for the other packages have not bid for this line, according to Meed, an industry researcher.
Salem Al Zaabi, the director general of the UAE’s Federal Transport Authority, told delegates at the Mena Rail and Metro Summit that “there is no cancellation of the link … It will be tendered and will be announced at the right time”. More info
