Simultaneously with the agreements reached on progress in the Jerusalem light rail, a compromise was also reached in the dispute between NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. and the Ministry of Transport on the one hand and the Ministry of Finance on the other on the question of the Greater Tel Aviv light rail tenders.
The compromise was formulated on a meeting today in the office of Minister of Transport and Intelligence Yisrael Katz. Under the agreement, the signals tender for the Tel Aviv region red line will be issued by May 15, following by a larger tender by early August, which will include the electrification, railways tracks, information, and communications systems. The latter includes public address information for passengers, security systems, command and control systems, and low-tension systems.
In addition, a tender will be published for civil work on the railway line, including pipelines and channels to be used later for laying cables and communications and electrification equipment. The tender will be directed at the local market, because the information required exists in Israel, and it will be easier for local companies to work with the authorities and municipalities on the railway route. As of now, Shikun u'Binui Solel Boneh Infrastructures Ltd. and Danya Cebus Ltd. (TASE: DNYA) are performing civil work on the line.
The Ministry of Transport announcement read, "At the end of a round of discussions by Katz with all the parties involved, including NTA and the Ministry of Finance, a new procurement strategy for the red line was devised that will make it possible to meet the original timetable for the project of October 2021."
The new agreement includes a commitment by the Ministry of Finance to increase the budget for the project if gaps emerge between the tender bids and the NIS 2.5 billion estimate for the work given in 2014. The Ministry of Transport stated, "Additional decisions will be brought to the supreme steering committee in pursuance of the cabinet decision."
Before the compromise, the position of NTA and the Ministry of Transport was that the tender for the major systems should be split into four different tenders: signals, electrification and tracks, communications and command systems, and civil engineering work. NTA cited the signals tender as particularly critical, because production of the railway coaches according to the timetable requires delivery of the specifications for the signals system to Chinese company CNR this year.
The wish to split the other tenders was a result of the idea that it was the only way to carry out the tenders quickly and create competition in them between many parties, because unified tenders require the formation of groups of companies, which take a long time to organize, and there is little chance that many of them will take part.
In the unified tender for the system, the results of which were published last November, only two groups took part: Alstom with Minrav Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MNRV), and French company TAT with Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd. (TASE:SPEN). The bids given by the groups were higher than NTA's estimates of NIS 1.8 billion and NIS 3.5 billion, respectively.
At the meeting today, Katz ordered that the tenders for detailed planning of the green and purple lines in the Greater Tel Aviv area be budgeted and published by the end of next month. The green line is planned from Rishon Lezion West and Holon to Herzliya, while the purple will start from Savidor Railway Station in Tel Aviv, run towards Ben Yehuda and Arlozorov Streets, and south and east from there in the direction of Sheba Medical Center on Hashalom Road, and from there to Yehud.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 9, 2017
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