Scheme approved and now under preparation by Delcan and Mott MacDonald with NTA Urban Construction Lines, a government corporation. BOT tenders will be called for US$2bn first phase which includes underground section from Petah-Tikva to Bat-Yam. Six-year construction period. Dec 1998. De Leuw Cather awarded preliminary design contract for the first 18 km of line which will now be built for light rail operation with a view to possible conversion to metro standards in the future. Sept 1999. Approval given for Red Line, partly in tunnel, to run between Peta-Tikva and Bat-Yam. It will be designed with overhead power supply for initial use, but alignment geometry and tunnel diameter will permit easy future conversion to heavy metro. Visit www.mottmac.com Sept 2000.BOT tenders expected end-2000 for 21 km Red line from Peta Tikva to Bat Yam via Jabitinsky Road, Hameslia and Jaffa, with 7 km Peta Tikva to Jaffa in cut-and-cover tunnel. Construction to start within two years for completion by 2008. Promoter NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd for Municipality of Tel Aviv. December 2000. Tender documents in preparation for 22 km Red Line to start construction in 2003 for opening 2008. Now to include 9 km of tunnel bored 40 m below street level. In first stage, 7 km will be driven between Allenby and Ben Gurion, to be followed later by 2 km extension from Ben Gurion to Geha. Project management by Mesillot, a jv of Hatch Mott MacDonald, Delcan, and Amy-Metom. Green Line from Rishon and Holon in the south, via the city centre, to Arlosoroff in design as LRT with interchanges with Red Line at Allenby and Arlosoroff. Visit www.hatchmott.com 03/01. Invitation to tender for BOT construction of 22 km-long red line with 7-9 km of tunnels expected September, 2001. Visit www.hatchmott.com 34/01. Invitation to prequalify, deadline 23rd May, 2002 for the US$1 billion 22 km Red Line under BOT contract. Includes 7.5 km of tunnels in the city centre and elevated sections to Petach Tikva and Bat Yam. Work on first stage to start in 2004 with commissioning expected for 2009. Contact NTA (Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd.), 13 Gush Etzion St, 3rd floor (Shay Sohlberg, Manager of the Economics and Legal Division), Givat Shmuel, 54030, Israel, tel +972-(0)3-5320530, fax +972-(0)3-5480354, PQ_TENDER@nta.co.il. To get the 'Right to Participate and Threshold Requirements' document, e-mail thierry@tunnelbuilder.com. Also under planning are the Green Line from Rishon Lezion via Holon to Tel Aviv where it will cross the Red Line, the Yellow Line from Tel Aviv to Ramat Gan, Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya, and the Purple Line to Kiryat Ono. 51/01. Three international consortia will submit their bids on 31st July for the construction of the Tel Aviv metro. They are: Afriqua Israel, Siemens, Aecon (Canada); Dragados, Israeli construction firm Ashtrom, Alstom, Vivendi Environnement unit Connex; and RATP, Boig (France), Bomvred (Canada). The latter consortium is currently negotiating with two Israeli companies to get them to join the project. The first two consortia are also candidates for the Jerusalem light rail project. Read E-News Weekly # 24. The Tel Aviv metro is a 22 km network, both elevated and below ground, from Petah Tikva, north of Tel Aviv, to Bat Yam in the south. Estimated cost of $1.2 billion. 27/02. Four international consortia have submitted bids in the first tender to build and operate the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Light Railway Red Line. The first consortium comprises Siemens, Aecon Group, HTM (Netherlands), Africa-Israel Investments, and Egged Bus Cooperative. The second consortium comprises Bombardier, Bouygues, Paris metro operator RATP, and Israel's Property & Building and the Dan bus company. The third consortium is headed by Polar Investments, with Ashtrom, Alstom, Connex-CGEA, and Housing & Construction Holding Co. (Shikun u'Binui). The fourth consortium comprises Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), Daewoo International, BVG (Germany), and Israel's Ocif Investments & Development, Shafir Civil & Marine Engineering, Gmul, Granite Hacarmel Investments, and Bateman Engineering.The consortia for the final stage will be chosen by early 2003. The final tender will be published by mid-2003 and construction will begin in early 2005. The first trains are scheduled to operate in 2010. 45/02. The subcommittee for important infrastructure plans approved the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Light Railway Red Line. The line will be completely underground in the 7.5 km from Manshieh, through Ramat Gan, to the border of Bnei Brak. 32 stops are planned, including 11 underground. An award is pending. 12/03.The three shortlisted groups for the first phase of the Tel Aviv light rail are Siemens, Aecon Group, HTM, Africa-Israel Investments, and Egged Bus Cooperative; Bombardier, RATP, Bouygues, Property & Building, and Dan Bus Cooperative; and Alstom, Connex, Ashtrom, Housing & Construction Holding, and Polar Investments.The 22 km first phase includes 7.5 km of tunnels. 30/03.Five companies have joined forces to make up the Metropolitan Transportation Solution (MTS) consortium, which is competing in the Tel Aviv light railway tender. The companies are Africa-Israel Investments, Egged Bus Cooperative, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Portugal's Soares da Costa and Siemens. Each company will have a 20% share in the consortium, which will be led and managed by Africa-Israel. The tender is for the digging and construction of two light rail lines, one from Petah Tikva to Rishon LeZion, and the other from the Glilot junction in north Tel Aviv to western Rishon LeZion, with several branches and sublines. Construction will take an estimated 5-10 years. 27/04.MTS, a consortium which consists of Africa-Israel, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Soares da Costa, the Egged bus cooperative, Siemens, and the leading Dutch transportation company HTM won a BOT contract for the 22 km Red Line. The contract is worth ILS7.1 billion, the biggest private sector contract ever tendered in Israel's history. MTS' bid was just ILS400 million under that of rival Metrorail, who bidded at ILS7.5 billion. The defeated Metrorail consortium is expected to file suit against the award to MTS. Even if MTS finally succeeds, it will have first to finish detailed planning and overcome many other financial and administrative difficulties, including working with the mayors of five different municipalities along the route. Visit www.africa-israel.com, www.ccecc.com.hk and www.soaresdacosta.ptThe line runs from Petah Tikva bus station through Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan through to central Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Bat Yam. About 10 kilometres of the line is to be built underground, with ten underground stops (Allenby, Carlebach, Yehudit, Shaul HaMelech, Arlozorov, Abba Hillel, Bialik, Ben Gurion, Aharonowitz, and Em HaMoshavot), with an average distance of 500 metres between them. Tunnelling is due to begin in late 2008-early 2009. The first phase is expected to be operational in 2013. MTS will operate the line for 22 years. Read E-News Weekly 6/2006, 24/2005, 6/2005 & 47/2004. Click il/13. 03/07.