Riyadh Metro awards materials testing contract for two lines

The material testing contract for the Riyadh Metro project lines 1 and 2 has been awarded to construction consultancy Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS), it was announced on Monday.

Under the deal, ACTS will carry out testing and analysis on the construction materials that will be used for the two Riyadh Metro lines.

The size of the deal was not disclosed.

As part of the three-year contract, ACTS will set up an 800 square metre laboratory space – one of the largest site laboratories for infrastructure in the kingdom.

The laboratory will feature field testing equipment to investigate and assess related construction materials, among them concrete, soil, asphalt, shotcrete and grout.

ACTS will also deploy more than 150 professionals on three different site locations to complete the technical expertise required under the agreement, it said in a statement.

The company was earlier commissioned to undertake geotechnical and geophysical works on Riyadh Metro lines 1 and 2 under a subcontract package awarded by the BACS consortium (consisting of Saudi Arabian Bechtel, Almabani General Contractors and Consolidated Contractors Company WLL and Siemens Aktiengesellschaft). BACS is one of the three consortia that were awarded the Riyadh Metro Project by Arriyadh Development Authority.

Under the deal, ACTS had to work on the north of Line 1, which included drilling of boreholes, logging them using optical and acoustic tele-viewers and assessing the subsurface ground layers.

A scientific testing programme was carried out on the extracted cores to assess soil properties.

To date, ACTS’ tasks under the first agreement are almost completed, it added in the statement.

The $23bn Riyadh Metro project, scheduled to be completed by 2019, hopes to be the backbone of the public transport system in the Saudi capital city.

With six lines – totalling an approximate length of 176km – and 85 stations, the metro network will cover the most densely populated areas of Riyadh, including the King Khalid International Airport, King Abdullah Financial District and major educational, commercial and medical institutions.

Also read: Riyadh Metro project now 36% complete