FCC has been awarded a contract by the Qatar Railways Company to build a section of Doha Metro red line (Qatar) for 506 million euro. The winning consortium led by FCC, the Citizen Services Group, also comprises Archirodon (Greece), Yüksel (Turkey) and Petroserv Ltd. (Qatar). This is FCC's first major project in this Arab Emirate.

The execution period is 31 months and the project will create more than 1,000 jobs. In the bidding process, the FCC-led consortium competed with groups from Korea, Germany, Italy and India, among other countries.

The contract includes building three elevated stations (Barwa Village, Al Wakrah and Qatar Economic Zone) and a 6.97-kilometre section, plus tunnelizing the road at the entrance to Al Wakrah. The total budget for the Doha Metro project exceeds 20 billion euro.

This project comes just six months after FCC obtained the largest international contract in its history: the construction of three lines of the Riyadh Metro, for over 6 billion euro. In that project, FCC heads the FAST consortium, which comprises Samsung (Korea), Alstom and Setec (both from France), Strukton (The Netherlands), Freyssinet Saudi Arabia, Typsa (Spain) and Atkins (UK). The total budget for the Riyadh Metro is more than 16.3 billion euro.

As FCC executives discussed with Saudi authorities and the Spanish Development Minister, Ana Pastor, during an official trip, construction of lines 4, 5 and 6 will begin in the second quarter of the year, employing over 15,000 people from 15 countries. Thus far, geological studies and terrain surveys have been completed, in line with the proposed calendar.

The consortium team in Riyadh numbers some 160 people, around 40 of whom are FCC employees from Spain. Another 220 people are located in Madrid, Paris, London, New Delhi and Dubai to provide support for the project. The execution period is five years.

FCC in the Middle East

The metro construction contract in Doha is FCC's largest project in Qatar. The Group is currently building two pedestrian walkways in the new city of Lusail and is completing the second phase of the Barzan camp residential area in Al Wajba, 15 kilometres from the capital city. FCC has a representative office in Doha.

Since 2011, the Group has been operating in Saudi Arabia, where FCC Aqualia has a contract to optimise Riyadh's water supply network, which measures over 6,000 kilometres. This project has created 160 jobs and will improve the services provided to more than 3 million people.

This was the first water management contract granted to a Spanish company in the Middle East. A few months later, FCC Aqualia was awarded a contract to operate and manage the sewers and sewage treatment system in Abu Dhabi.

A world leader in underground rail

FCC is a global leader in subway construction. In early April, the Group will inaugurate the first line of the Panama City Metro, which had a budget of over 1 billion euro. The Panama Metro was built by a consortium which included Brazilian company Odebrecht.

Other international metro projects executed by FCC include the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) in Canada, for 304 million euro, and section 1 of Bucharest Metro line 5, in Romania, for 267 million euro. In Spain, the company is currently building the metro in Málaga and line 9 of Barcelona Metro.