Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation is scheduled to publish today the first tender for infrastructure preparation work for the Jerusalem light rail Green Line. The NIS 60 million budget for the tender includes infrastructure work, support walls, development, and paving work stretching from the intersection of Bar Lev and Clermont-Ganneau Streets to Katzir Street in Jerusalem.
Carrying out the tender in effect gives a green light for the beginning of work on development of the Green line - the second light rail line in Jerusalem.
The Green Line will be 19 kilometers long, starting at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mount Scopus campus and ending in Gilo. It will have 35 railway stations, and will pass through Hadassah Medical Center, French Hill, the government ministries compound, Ramat Eshkol, and Teddy Stadium and the Pais Arena.
Negotiations between the state and CityPass, which operates the Jerusalem light railway Red Line, broke down several months ago. The work that Citypass was supposed to have carried out was therefore shifted to the Green Line tender, and the tender winner will operate both the Red and Green Lines (after the state buys CityPass's rights in the Red Line in 2019).
The monetary value of the tender includes work on extension of the Red Line and building the Green Line is estimated at $10 billion, and it is believed that the engineering work accounts for 40% of this amount. The tender is currently in the PQ pre-selection phase, which is slated for completion in November. A process taking several months will then take place in which the tenders committee, through a transportation master plan, will select the relevant candidates.
Moriah Jerusalem Development CEO Doron Noiwirt stated, "The Green Line is expected to double the number of public transportation passengers in Jerusalem, and will continue the public transportation revolution that Moriah Jerusalem Development, which is responsible for development of all of the city's infrastructure on behalf of the local authority and the Ministry of Transport, has been carrying out in recent years. People will need fewer private cars, and will rely more on the light rail. Decreasing private vehicle traffic will also ease the traffic loads in the city center. The railway will now have two lines, the Red Line and the Green Line, and more routes with the Blue Line, which is also in the planning stages. At least three more tenders for the next sections of the Green Line will be issued in 2017, and work will be going at full speed in 2018-2019."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 27, 2017
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