SAUDI ARABIA: A joint venture of WS Atkins and Typsa has been awarded a contract to design Riyadh metro lines 4, 5 and 6.
The contract announced on October 8 was awarded by the FAST consortium of FCC, Samsung C&T, Alstom, Strukton, Freyssinet, Typsa and Setec which Arriyadh Development Authority has selected to design and build the three lines totalling 64·6 km. Contract scope includes 25 stations, two depots and seven park and ride sites.
The design contract is worth £75m to lead designer Atkins, which said it would draw on a multi-disciplinary team of around 200 staff from its offices in Riyadh, the UAE, Bangalore, Hong Kong and the UK.
'Riyadh Metro is a landmark project which will raise standards of living and support long-term sustainable development throughout the city, acting as a catalyst for further investment in all aspects of the public realm and built environment', said WS Atkins CEO Prof Dr Uwe Krueger. 'We are one of the few organisations in the world with the breadth and depth of technical expertise and regional market experience to deliver a project of such scale and complexity. Our track record on other major metro programmes in the region, as well as our work on projects such as King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was a key factor in our appointment.'
