The New South Wales (NSW) government has now formally released a request for proposals for the AU$1.6bn (£810m) project. The contract covers the design, construction, services relocations, operation, maintenance and finance of the new 12km central business district (CBD) and South East Light Rail. The successful tenderer will also operate and maintain the expanded Inner West Light Rail network.
The consortia shortlisted to tender for the PPP are:
- SydneyConnect – including Serco, John Holland and Plenary Group;
- iLinQ – including Keolis Downer, Balfour Beatty, McConnell Dowell, Bombardier and Macquarie Capital;
- Connecting Sydney – including Transdev, Acciona Infrastructure Australia, Alstom Transport Australia and Capella Capital.
“I am pleased at the level of interest and high quality of firms tendering for this vital transport project, which I am confident will translate into high quality outcomes and value for money to NSW taxpayers,” said transport minister Gladys Berejiklian.
“Tendering for this highly complex project is an intensive process and the public private partnership contract requires significant investment by the shortlisted consortia,” she added. “We know construction of this project will be disruptive, so we’re asking the teams to focus on showing us how they can deliver and operate light rail in a way that minimises impacts to Sydney and maximises benefits to our customers and NSW taxpayers.
“We expect innovative thinking and detailed planning to be done over the coming months, before they submit their tenders later in the year.”
Subject to planning approval, it is expected that the PPP contract will be awarded in late 2014. Work on the $1.6bn CBD and South East Light Rail project will take five or six years to complete.
From mid-2015, the successful tenderer will also operate and maintain the existing light rail network.
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