Guangzhou Metro Corp (GMC), the government-owned transportation company responsible for building the city's subway system, will launch a landmark bidding process for passenger trains to run on the city's second metro line.
Invitations to tender for 26 trains, involving contracts worth millions of dollars, is scheduled to start on Thursday.
However, under central government policy aimed at localising equipment used for inner-city rail projects, GMC will invite only foreign companies with mainland-based rolling stock joint ventures and domestic co-operation agreements to participate.
The move, which represents a break from previous practice, complies with State Development and Planning Commission guidelines requiring local governments to source domestically at least 70 per cent of equipment used for large municipal infrastructure projects.
Guangzhou's Metro Line Two will run 23.21 kilometres from Xinzhou in Guangzhou's southeast to Baiyun International Airport in the northern suburbs when it is completed in 2003.
Investment for the route has been budgeted at 11.02 billion yuan (about HK$10.24 billion), including a provision of US$139 million to buy overseas equipment.
That is a substantial reduction from the 4.7 billion yuan spent on foreign equipment for the first line.