Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) has revealed it is tendering several major construction tenders for the expansion of Bahrain International airport in 2015.

Speaking to MEED, BAC’s CEO, Mohamed al-Binfalah, says work on the airport expansion is being split into two phases, with the first phase scheduled for completion by the end of 2018, and the overall project due for completion by the end of 2019.

BAC has invited companies to submit bids for the main construction contract by 2 July.

The contracting groups that have been invited to bid include:

• Al Jaber Transportation & General Trading (UAE)
• Al-Ghandi & CCC (Greece) / Shapoorji (India)
• Arabtec (UAE) / TAV Construction (Turkey)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
• Ghantoot (UAE) / Acciona (Spain)
• GP Zachariades (Bahrain) / Al-Faraa (UAE) / Rizanni De Eccher (Italy)
• Habtoor Leighton Group (UAE/Australia) / Hochtief (Germany) / Nass Mechanical (local)
• Kharafi (Kuwait) / Admak General Contracting (UAE)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• OHL (Spain) / Trojan (UAE)
• Saudi Binladin Group (Saudi Arabia)
• Shade Corporation (Saudi Arabia) / Astaldi (Italy) / Ictas (Turkey)
• Six Construct / Nass Contracting (local)
• Tecton (UAE) / Limak (Turkey)
• Vinci Construction (France)

The $1.1bn project, which is being financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, involves the construction of a 170,000-square-metre terminal building, together with associated buildings and infrastructure such as car parks and aircraft parking areas. It also involves managing nominated subcontractors working on specialist packages for baggage-handling systems, passenger loading bridges and information technology systems.

When completed, the new terminal structure is expected to increase the airport’s capacity to 13.5 million passengers a year.

Al-Binfalah explains that BAC, which is a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of local sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, will serve as the operator for the airport.

“Bahrain has always been a travel hub; we are not aiming to compete with other regional hubs, but rather to offer a boutique and efficient experience,” says Al-Binfalah.  BAC has also confirmed that because this a brownfield development, there will be little disruption to the current airport. “We expect to run at full capacity,” says Al-Binfalah.

BAC is planning to award the second enabling works package on the airport very soon, MEED has been told.