Disputed payments estimated at about $2 to 3 billion
Construction of the Dubai Metro has restarted after a settlement was reached with the Japanese-led consortium behind the project over about $2-3 billion in disputed payments, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Construction of 18 unfinished stations on the system’s main line and another 18 on an unopened line started again on Feb. 7, the paper said on its website citing contractors.
The Japanese consortium members are Japan’s Obayashi Corp, Kajima Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and trading house Mitsubishi Corp. The consortium also includes Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi Insaat Ve Sanat AS.
Obayashi Corp spokesman Kiyoshi Takahashi said the company is still in talks with the Dubai government about the payments, and that construction had never stopped. Construction slowed as costs increased due to design changes, Obayashi told Reuters in January.
The fully automated metro network is now expected to be finished at the end of this year, pushed back from an original target of this spring.
The world’s longest automated rail system will probably cost $7.6 billion, or 80 percent more than originally planned, Dubai government officials said last year.
