OCI earns 23 percent share in first phase
CAIRO: Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) announced yesterday it has won a total of LE 1 billion in construction projects for the first of four phases of the Greater Cairo Metro Line 3.
According to a statement released to the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange, OCI s share in the LE 4.4 billion project includes executing civil, electrical, mechanical and rail works and supplying 650,000 tons of concrete.
OCI will work as part of several consortiums on each of the tenders won. In September, a consortium made up of OCI, Arab Contractors and a group of French companies led by Vinci and Bouygues Construction Group (VBCG) won the construction rights to the first phase of Cairo s third metro line with an offer of ?400 (LE 2.9 billion).
The first phase, stretching 4.2 km from Imbaba to Abbaseya, is expected to be completed in four years. Construction already began in October, 2006 to clear the way for a LE 900 million high-voltage power station to supply the new metro line. The line will eventually reach Cairo International Airport, passing through Nasr City, with a total length of about 30 km.
OCI and VBCG were both involved in the construction of both metro lines 1 and 2. The French company s record includes participation in the construction of metro and railway projects in Athens, Budapest and St. Petersburg. The National Railway Authority (NRA) is still to release a definitive timetable for completing the project. According to National Tunnel Authority Chairman Saad Hassan Shehata, each phase will require four years of construction, but phases can be worked on simultaneously provided funding is secured.
NRA is yet to announce tenders for phase two, scheduled for simultaneous completion with phase one in 2011.
