On January 3, the Ministry of Railways' Project Tendering Center publicized the opening results for the bidding on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

Fifteen Chinese companies bid for the project's six civil construction sections, estimated at over 80 billion yuan based on bid prices. They are affiliated with China's five largest construction groups, namely China Railway Engineering Group Co.Ltd (CREC), China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), China Communications Construction Company Ltd. (CCCC) and China Hydraulic and Hydroelectric Construction Group Corporation (Sino-hydro Corporation).

CCCC President Meng Fengchao believes that China's large railway construction companies, now having mature technologies, are qualified for the project. He said it was hard to predict the contract size that his company could get for the project. Sources from CREC and CSCEC told Shanghai Securities News that bid prices are not the only determining factor. In addition to cost, the inviting party would take many other aspects into consideration before making a decision.

Regarding project consultation, several Chinese-Germany company alliances submitted their bids. They include the Fifth Railway Survey & Design Institute-PEC+S Group of Germany alliance, China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd., and the China Railway First Survey & Design Institute Group Ltd - Ingenieurbuero Dipl.-Ing. H. Voessing GmbH alliance, among others.

Additionally, 10 companies have bid to supervise the civil construction. These enterprises are regional ventures from, for example, Beijing, Xinjiang and Shandong.

(China.org.cn by Pang Li, January 4, 2008)