Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the operator of a 390-km metro network in India's capital, is bidding for consultancy work on Phase One of the $2-billion Bahrain Metro project, which comprises two lines running 29-km-long and covering 20 stations, reported The Economic Times, citing a top official.

 

The DMRC has bagged a clutch of assignments from international players and now the company intends to use its expertise as a sole consultant that is also engaged in the execution of metro projects. 

 

As part of its overseas ventures, the entity has qualified in the initial bidding round to take up consultancy for Tel-Aviv metro rail project in Israel, said DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar.

 

Buoyed by the success, India’s first and biggest metro rail company DMRC is set to expand its global footprint by taking up consultancy and management projects for metro trains in newer geographies including Bahrain, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Egypt.

 

DMRC has entered the Tel Aviv, Alexandria and Ho Chi Minh City as part of consortium bidding for its mass rapid transit networks, said Kumar. However, in case of Bahrain and Mauritius, it has decided to go solo.

 

Earlier TradeArabia News Service had reported that the mammoth Bahrain Metro project is being implemented in four phases - with the first one comprising two lines running 29-km-long covering 20 stations. 

 

It represents the first phase of the Bahrain government’s ambitious plans of developing a 109-km rail based urban transit network (Metro) that consists of an elevated corridor with two lines having an estimated length of 28.6 km with 20 stations and two interchanges.

 

A total of 11 leading global infrastructure majors - including French sustainable mobility expert Alstom, Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Indian construction conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) are in the race.

 

The others vying for the contract include Chinese heavyweights Harbour Engineering and China Railway Group, Plenary Asia (Singapore); Virtue Global Holding (UK) and CRRC (Hong Kong) Company in addition to regional heavyweight Orascom Construction (Egypt).

 

Two of Bahrain's leading utility majors - Aradous Energy Generation Company and Taqi Mohammed Albaharana Trading Establishment - are also in the fray, it added.

 

A team of financial, technical, and legal advisors have been appointed for the project led by KPMG as the lead transaction advisor, Egis as the technical advisor and DLA Piper as the legal advisor for procurement of this project on a PPP basis.