(Case study continued 4) Also, 30% of the metro line will be below sea level. The project will require a total of 8 tunnel boring machines (TBM) to be provided by a Chinese supplier according to an agreed schedule. No back-up TBM will be procured to keep the costs under control. The 13 stations will be built using the cut-and-cover method. The City will be assisted by an advisory team of geologists from the University of Uqbar. The project will entail the resettlement of 1,350 households, including residential and commercial units. The resettlement will require the payment of compensations, which the municipality will carry out based on applications from the affected parties. Persons affected by the project will be informed through official notices to be published in the local media and on the municipality’s website. In the event of non-agreement, the country’s expropriation regime provides a swift resolution by imposing a payment upon the municipality in line with the relevant public interest laws, which were approved more than two decades ago. According to some theories, Uqbar is believed to sit on the remains of old Magzhmathi, an ancient city which is mentioned in a mythological poem dating more than 3,000 years ago. According to the poem, Magzhmathi lost the favour of the gods who sent an earthquake that sunk the city under the sea. Magzhmathi has never been found and historians speculate about its actual existence. Occasionally, works on the sewage and water networks in different parts of the city have identified archaeological findings of small significance that suggest the presence of a Magzhmathi-era culture in the zone.
