Huge Tel Aviv light rail tender attracts 5 bids

NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. has announced that it has received five bids from consortia for the huge NIS 15 billion tender to build and operate the Tel Aviv light rail Purple and Green Lines.

The five consortia are: Spanish company CAF and Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd. (TASE: SPEN); CRCC, CRRC, Shikun and Binui Holdings Ltd. (TASE: SKBN) and Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd.; Alstom, Electra Ltd. (TASE: ELTR) and Dan; China Harbor (CHEC), Minrav Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MNRV) and Allied; CREC, the Noy Fund, and The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5)

The Green Line will extend over 39 kilometers from Holon in the south via central Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv University, to Kiryat Atidim and Herzliya Pituah. There will be 62 stations with four of them underground. The Purple Line will extend over 29 kilometers from Yehud and Kiryat Ono and Bar-Ilan University and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer to central Tel Aviv and the Carmel Market. There will be 43 stations. Construction of the two lines is scheduled for completion in 2026.

The Public Private partnership (PPP) tender will require the winning consortium to plan, build, operate, maintain, supply rolling stock and provide financing for the Green and Purple Lines.

NTA CEO Haim Glick expressed great satisfaction at the number of bids and he said that the tender had been received with an international vote of confidence. "We now expect that the Green and Purple Lines will receive a major boost in planning and construction and within a few years the Gush Dan Mass Transit System will be one of the most advanced in the world."

After several delays, the Tel Aviv light rail Red Line is now scheduled to begin operations in 18 months.