PRAKASH JHA

AUGSBURG (GERMANY) QATAR will get the “best and final offer” (BaFO) for the $1.8 billion Lusail Light Rail Project on June 21. Also known as the final price bid, BaFO will pave the way for awarding of the contract to the successful bidder in September.

Bombardier Transportation, one of the companies in the race for the billion-dollar project, plans to introduce the state-of-the-art Primove System in Qatar, if it wins the contract, according to a top company official.

French multinational conglomerate Alstom, Ansaldo of Italy and CAF of Spain are the other companies vying for the project.

The Lusail rail project, a planned system that will link parts of yet-to-be-built Lusail City, is expected to be complete in 56 months from the day of the awarding of the contract.

Talking to Qatar Tribune at a function organised to announce the success of the Primove System’s pilot project and its commercial launch in Augsburg, Germany, on Thursday, Bombardier Transportation President and Chief Operating Officer André Navarri said: “As a global leader in rail technology, we have a bright vision for the cities of tomorrow. We imagine urban areas like the new city of Lusail where all vehicles will be electric, where mass transit vehicles will provide a quiet and emission- free urban mobility without altering the contours of the landscape.” Remarking that Qatar would become the first country to receive the cuttingedge technology, Bombardier Sales Director (Middle East) Mickey Raviv said: “We create innovative e-mobility (electric mobility) for all types of vehicles like trams, buses, cars, trucks and taxis. We will be happy to bring this technology to Lusail and to present it to Mowasalat for its fleet of buses and Karwa taxis”.

The NTP (notice to proceed) for the project, is expected early next year while actual execution may start a year later after the approval of the final project design.

Declining to share the financial details of the proposal, Raviv said: “At Bombardier, we believe in long-term and strategic partnership with the client. The company is ready to tailor the project-related activities and developments to the needs of Qatar,” he added.

Based on the principle of inductive power transfer, Primove technology allows trams and electric vehicles to be recharged either in motion (dynamic charging) or at rest (static charging) without affecting driving habits or journey times.

The system transfers energy at very high levels of efficiency without compromising on performance and can significantly reduce energy consumption when combined with an onboard energy storage solution, said Raviv.

Aiming to be part of Qatar’s multi-billion dollar infrastructure development programme, Bombardier, the transportation giant, is also planning to bid for the $41 billion Doha Metro Project and submit a fresh bid for the $1.4 billion West Bay Automatic People Mover among other projects.

By eliminating the overhead cables and other wires previously needed to power electric vehicles, mass transit networks can now blend in effortlessly with their surroundings without creating visual ‘pollution’. City landmarks, parks and heritage sites are left intact and the overall attractiveness of the city is thereby enhanced, Raviv said.