Three international groups have been tasked with design and construction of the new $22.5 billion Riyadh Metro in the Saudi Arabian capital, a report said.

Italian firm Ansaldo, the leader of the Arriyadh New Mobility group (ANM), will be in charge of one line with a distance of 40.7 km, added the report in Arab News. The contract is valued at $5.2 billion, it added.

US-based Bechtel, which heads the BACS group, will build two lines with a total distance of 63.3 km, the contract for which is worth $9.5 billion, the report said.

FCC Construction, a Spanish firm and head of the consortium known as FAST, will be in charge of an $8 billion contract to construct three lines covering a total distance of 72.5 km, it added.

The automated Riyadh Public Transport Project (RPTP), construction of which will begin in the first quarter of 2014, is the biggest infrastructure project to be undertaken [in Riyadh], Ibrahim Al-Sultan, president of Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) and member of the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh (HCDA), was quoted as saying in the report.

The metro system will feature 96 stations including the main stations, four transfer stations and five park-and-ride stations, the report added.