Chinese companies lose tenders for Israeli light rail
Chinese companies lost tenders for light rail in the Tel Aviv area, apparently following American pressure against Chinese involvement in strategic projects in Israel.
The Israeli government-owned NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System released Jan. 13 the results of a tender to construct two out of five mass transit lines — the “Green Line” and the “Purple Line” in Israel’s largest metropolitan area. According to the terms of the tender, the companies that win the tender will fund, plan, build and provide maintenance for the light rail system over a period of 25 years, with construction estimated to last about five years.
It was a Public Private Partnership Tender. The two new rail lines will join the “Red Line,” which is expected to begin operating commercially late this year. They will eventually be part of a mass transit system, which carries over 200 million riders per year.
The big surprise of this tender was that none of the Chinese firms that bid on it in partnership with other companies actually won. The criteria used to select the wining companies — and not to select others — have yet to be released.
A statement by the NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System simply said that after the hearing process took place, it decided to disqualify a proposal submitted by one group, in which the Chinese government-owned China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) participated. The reason for this was the especially low price that it submitted and the problems it had with tenders and business dealings in other countries. Apparently, its proposal was 1 billion Israeli shekels ($313,000) lower than the transit system’s own estimates for the cost of the project. Still, since the company’s subsidiaries are already involved in constructing the “Red Line” project, in cooperation with Israeli companies, its disqualification surprised many.
