DUBAI — Dubai's transport authority announced Wednesday it had awarded a French-led consortium a $2.88 billion contract to extend its metro network to the site of the Expo 2020 world trade fair.
The consortium, led by France's Alstom Conglomerate and also including Spain's Acciona and Turkey's Gulermak, will construct a 15 km extension to the site of the fair, a statement said.
Alstom will supply 50 trains, 15 of them for the new extension and 35 to upgrade existing services, the statement said.
Road and Transport Authority chairman Mattar Al-Tayer said a Japanese-led consortium including "capable" Mitsubishi was the runner-up but Alstom's offer was cheaper.
"Both of them are competent but financially we find it cheaper for us to go with Alstom," he said.
The government has already provided $409 million for the first six months, Tayer said.
The metro was projected to cost $4.4 billion when work began in 2004, but that had surged to $7.6 billion by the time it was completed.
The Dubai Metro has two lines, a 52 km Red Line and a 23 km Green Line.
