The bids have been entered for Dubai Metro’s Blue Line, which will add 30 km and 14 stations to the emirate’s mass transit system.
The lowest offer came from a consortium made up of China Tiesiju Civil Engineering, Egypt’s Arab Contractors, Binladin Contracting Group of Dubai and Spanish train maker Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. The group offered to build the line for US$6 billion, which is 6% less than the second-lowest bid. This was entered by a team comprising Turkish contractors Limak and Mapa, together with China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation. The third-ranked offer was submitted by a consortium made up of FCC of Spain, China State Construction Engineering and Alstom, which bid US$ 6.6 billion. The second highest bid was from India’s Larsen & Toubro and Powerchina, together with local contractors Wade Adams and Hitachi. They priced the job at US$7.4 billion. The highest offer by some distance was submitted by China Civil Engineering Construction, China Railway Construction, South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and Siemens, with a price of US$11.2 billion.
The Blue Line will run a bifurcated north-south route through Dubai, set to begin operations in 2029, accommodating up to 200,000 daily passengers. Key areas served include Dubai Creek, Festival City, International City, Al Rashidiya, Al Warqa, Mirdif, Silicon Oasis, and Academic City. This is part of a larger metro expansion plan that aims to double the system's size over the next 15 years.