Chinese firm offers best bid for Ankara’s subway trains
ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency
Minister Binali Yıldırım (3rd L) gestures during a ceremony on Feb 9 to mark the deals regarding new Ankara subway lines.
China’s CSR Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd offered the best price at $391.2 million during a tender on March 5 to supply trains for Ankara’s metro system.CSR Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd beat out two other competitors, Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and Spain’s CAF SA.
However, the tender commission will grant the deal to the lowest bid after reviewing the offers for suitability to the terms of contract.
The Chinese firm has to deliver the first shipment of 15 trains within 20 months of signing the agreement. All the trains will be delivered in 39 months.
The first tranche of trains are expected to arrive in time to coincide with the completion of the Kızılay-Çayyolu and Sincan-Batıkent metro lines.
The Ankara Metro is expected to become operational by the end of 2013, according to an official in charge of infrastructure projects, Metin Tarhan.
During the tender, Tarhan said the winning firm must allow Turkish producers to provide 30 percent of the parts for the first 75 trains.
For the remainder of the trains, 51 percent of the parts will be supplied by local suppliers in order to support the local economy and industry.
MAYOR FORESEES 5 MILLION PASSENGERS
ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency
The number of people using the rail systems across Istanbul will near 5 million daily by 2014 from today’s 1.37 million as many ongoing projects will be concluded, according to Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş. Responding to questions by journalists yesterday, Topbaş rejected recent claims that two UNESCO experts who approved a railway bridge on the Golden Horn, an attraction in the city, were contractors for the municipality. “Some people are trying to block this projectb” he said.
