Rome to Present Project Finance of Metro Line D On 13th April, 2006 at 11:00 am, the project finance of Line D will be presented in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Room Petrassi in Avenue Pierre de Coubertin, #30. Print invitation here. Rome's fourth subway line will be 20 km long serving 22 stations. To view the alignment of Line D, click here. Project financing will be used for the construction of all Line D from Agricoltura to Ojetti, but the line will be built in successive phases. The first objective is to build and open section Fermi-Prati Fiscali (11 km with 12 stations). The estimated cost for construction of the entire line amounts to approx. EUR2,860 million. Section Fermi-Prati Fiscali, budgeted at EUR1,860 million, represents about 65% of the whole cost. The procedure will select a private contractor who will work on preliminary design. The outline plans will serve as a base to invite tenders for infrastructure work, but a right of pre-emption will give the contractor a priority right over other bidders. This is how the procedure will lead to the selection of a concessionaire who will build and operate the line under a 25-year contract on behalf of the city. Further to the publication of a call for tenders for project finance expected in April 2006 and the subsequent phase of selection of a contractor, it is expected to approve the preliminary design in 2007, after which tenders will be invited and a private concessionaire will be selected by 2009.Work on section Fermi-Prati Fiscali should commence in 2010 and the entire line be completed in 2018.The tunnels will be fully driven by TBM. In the historical city centre, the line will travel deep at 40-50 metres to cross Line A and Line C and execute intersecting stations. In more extreme areas, depth will be limited to 20-30 metres.According to design criteria already employed for Line C, the tunnel diameter in the central section will be such as to contain also the station platforms ("Rome model"). This solution, together with the choice to excavate also in tunnel the access adits to the stations, will enable engineers to reduce drastically the impact of construction at the surface and on the subsoil strata rich with archaelogical remains. Read E-News Weekly 45/2004. Visit www.romametropolitane.it 15/06.