Abu Dhabi tenders Sowwah Island bridge

19 January 2010

Contract incorporates redesign process to make project more efficient

Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development Company has invited companies to bid by 18 March for a contract to build a landmark bridge between Abu Dhabi Island and Sowwah Island.

It will be known as bridge number 4 and has been designed as a cable-stayed bridge with the bridge deck suspended from a 50-metre-high arch.

The prospective bidders are the local/Australian Al-Habtoor Leighton Group; the local Al-Naboodah Construction Group; Germany’s Bilfinger & Berger; Ed Zueblin, also of Germany; South Korea’s Samsung Corporation; and Japan’s Taisei Corporation.

The structural engineer on the project is UK-based Atkins.

The bridge replaces a tender for two bridges between Abu Dhabi Island and Sowwah Island that was put on hold in August 2009.

“This is the same tender but incorporates a small redesign process to more efficiently deliver the project,” says a Mubadala spokesman.

Five contractors submitted bids for the contract to build the two bridges in the first quarter of 2009. The bidders were Bilfinger & Berger; India’s Larsen & Toubro; Brazil’s Odebrecht with Dubai-based Al-Naboodah Construction Group; and Zueblin (MEED 7:8:09).

The successful bidder would have designed and built one cable-stayed bridge and one arch bridge connecting Abu Dhabi Island with Sowwah Island close to the Tourist Club and the Meridien hotel.

The new bridge will feed into a larger, integrated transportation network with a total of 13 bridges connecting Sowwah Island to the neighbouring Abu Dhabi Island, Reem Island and the Mina Zayed area.

Al-Naboodah is working on the infrastructure for Sowwah Island that includes four bridges and five kilometres of flyovers that will link the island with Abu Dhabi Island and Reem Island.

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