This announcement is in todays
Canberra Times here:
"
The ACT government has shortlisted two consortiums to submit detailed bids to build, own and operate Capital Metro.
Canberra Metro, is led by Leighton subsidiary Pacific
Partnerships, and includes Mitsubishi and John Hollands, and German firm
DB International GmbH.
Activate, is led by Downer EDI, which would design and
build, and includes French train-building company Bombardier and Keolis
Downer, which operates the new Gold Coast tram and Melbourne's tram
network.
The government had "tested their general view and
understanding of government's affordability threshold", he said.
Consortiums were also asked for a view on the government paying them a lump sum of
50 per cent of debt at the end of construction or at the first
refinancing of the project. Mr Corbell did not provide detail of their
response on the lump sum, but said consortiums had welcomed that fact
that the government had the payment on its radar.
The consortiums had also welcomed the government's willingness to consider the Russell extension, he said.
The
two shortlisted groups would now provide detailed design and a bid
price, setting out what the tram would cost the territory. The
government will pay the winning bidder an annual fee, but has yet to go
public on how much it expects that fee to be.
Mr Corbell said
"request for proposal" documents would go to the two shortlisted groups
in April for the Gungahlin line, and a couple of months later for the
Russell extension.
Mr Corbell said the two successful
consortiums were "well-formed", with mature relationships among the
companies making up each consortium, and mature financing arrangements,
he said. They both understood that the government had "sent a very
strong affordability signal" by releasing the business case, and were
highly experienced.
"We're dealing with highly experienced,
globally experienced companies that have delivered urban rail, including
light rail and heavy rail projects in Australia and overseas," he said.
Both were developing relationships with local subcontractors and suppliers, which would be critical in the final bids.
Mr Corbell said the shortlisting was a very
significant milestone. "We have met every milestone so far for this
project which I'm very proud of, so we are tracking to make a decision
on the successful bidder early in 2016 with works under way later in
2016," he said."
It has also been covered on local television news services:
ABC Canberra report on 18 Mar 2015
WIN Canberra report on 18 Mar 2015
For more frequent updates on Capital Metro and light rail related news, please visit our Facebook page 'Light Rail for Canberra'.
