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Project involved 19 global and local firms
Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Metro cost nearly $25 billion and is the single-largest driverless train system in the world, a Saudi official has said.
Ibrahim Al-Sultan, CEO of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) told the Saudi Rotana TV channel on Monday night that three international consortia grouping 19 companies from 13 countries were involved in the project.
“The total costs of the Riyadh Metro are estimated at around $25 billion…yet this cost is among the world’s lowest for such a project,” Sultan said.
He said every one km of the project cost around $166 million, adding that expected revenues from the metro would cover only about 40 percent of costs.
According to Sultan, the metro is expected to consume nearly 468 megawatts (MW) of electricity per year and that 12 stations have been built for this purpose.
Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, officially inaugurated phase 1 of the Riyadh Metro in late November and it will fully be commissioned in early 2025.
In 2013, the government awarded $22.5 billion in contracts for the design and construction of the Riyadh Metro.
The US construction giant Bechtel Corp heads a group which won a $9.45 billion contract to build two lines while a consortium led by Spains Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas won a $7.82 billion contract for three lines. Italys Ansaldo STS heads a group that won a $5.21 billion order. |
