This article is part of a daily series of MegaProjects articles. If you want to know more about PPP projects with a considerable size visit our MegaProjects section. You can receive them by email on a daily basis.Maryland Department of Transportation released on Friday a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the design, build, finance and operate the $2.2 billion Light Rail (Purple Line) in the Washington suburbs.
Last week, Maryland's Board of Public Works unanimously approved the Maryland Department of Transportation's plan to seek a public-private partnership for the Purple Line.
The state is applying for a $732 million TIFIA loan from the federal government. MDOT also plans to apply for Private Activity Bonds (PAB) funding for the project. A team of private companies would contribute $500 million to $900 million toward the Purple Line.
The project will be based on availability payments and it would include milestone payments during the construction period. Availability payments will be paid during 30 years after the start of operations,
The state could reimburse losing bidders up to $3 million each, particularly if it wants to use any ideas from those proposals.
The light rail line will have a 16.2-mile length. There are 21 proposed stations: 16 are at-grade, 3 are on aerial structures and 2 are below grade. Preliminary estimates indicate that the system may need around 58 vehicles to operate the light rail line.
The deadline for the submission of questions is November 20th, 2013. The Statements of Qualifications (SOQ) are due on December 10th.Maryland DOT anticipates it will release a shortlist of proposers by January 7th, 2014. Construction would begin in 2015 and trains would begin running in 2020.See RFQ: http://www.purplelinemd.com/images/p3/rfq/MDOT_MTA_Purple_Line_RFQ_2013-11-08.pdfSee Website: http://www.purplelinemd.com/en/p3
