Copenhagen metro contract award
Dec 2010
Patrick Reynolds, Freelance Journalist
- The tunnel contract for the major Cityringen project on Copenhagen metro has been recommended to be awarded to a Salini-led joint venture with Tecnimont and Seli.
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Copenhagen Cityringer metro route with the North and South Contracts divided at the Aksel Møllers Have station on the west and the Øster Søgade shaft on the east.
- Metroselskabet, the client, said the contract is expected to be formally awarded later in December once its owners have given final approval. The client's own board selected the JV - known as Copenhagen Metro Team (CMT) - last week following a lengthy, two-stage tender process that has been underway for half a year.
- The value of the contract was not explicitly stated nor was it immediately available but Metroselskabet said the total construction budget for the entire project is DKr21.3 billion (US3.79 billion), in 2010 prices. While noting that the building costs are approximately DKr3 billion (US$533 million) higher than expected this is offset by lower financing costs to keep the overall financing for Cityringen within the limits initially set out.
- Cityringen is to be a 15.5km 'circle' metro line with 17 stations on the metro network in the central Copenhagen, and is due to be opened in 2018.
- The loop is to have twin tubes and so calls for 31km of TBM-bored tunnels in addition to the 17 underground box stations, each 62m long. The tunnelling works also call for five shafts, four crossovers and stub tunnels for future extensions.
- The tubes are, it is expected, to be bored by either EPBMs or slurry shields at depths of 15m-35m. Geology along the alignment comprises glacial moraine on limestone, and the north west of the route features some sand beds.
- Bids for the tunnel and station construction work were submitted in May. Separate bids for North and South packages of tunnels and station works on the loop were sought, and offers for all works were also welcomed.
- The two rival JVs that tendered offers were: MT Høgaard with Hochtief, Ed Zublin and E Pihl & Son; and, Alpine Bau with FCC Construccion.
- Earlier this year a prequalified JV of Bilgfinger Berger, Per Aarself and Vinci pulled out the competition. Prequalification and shortlisting took place last year, and bid documentation was issued in October 2009. In early planning, back in 2008, it was anticipated that contract award might be possible my mid-2010 and although it is half a year later the overall completion of the scheme is unchanged for 2018.
- A JV of of Cowi, Arup and Systra helped Metroselskabet with the civil design.
- Separately, the contract for the trains and control system is to be awarded to Ansaldo, which already operates the existing parts of the Copenhagen metro.
- In a statement, Henning Christophersen, chairman of the board of Metroselskabet, said: 'The price of the construction has risen, but we are satisfied that we can finance the budget ourselves through savings on interest expenses, which means that our owners will not have to find new funding for the project. The overall financial situation is thus unchanged.'
- Henrik Plougmann Olsen, chief executive of Metroselskabet, said: 'I am very pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, where, for example, we succeeded in reducing the price by around DKr4 billion (US$711 million) and dealing with the tenderers' reservations. I would like to thank the tenderers for an excellent working relationship and a constructive negotiation process involving tenders of the highest quality.'
- Three JVs bid Copenhagen metro packages - TunnelTalk, May 2010
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