Bahrain Airport Company has received bids from six companies to draw up a masterplan for the expansion of the country’s international airport.

The successful bidder will be responsible for the overall development plan of the airport, including the southern passenger terminals and airport city project that will last at least 30 years, according to a spokeswoman for Bahrain Airport Company.

The airport development plan will also involve construction of an air traffic control tower, cargo facilities, a royal flight terminal and road and rail links to the airport.

The six companies competing for the masterplan contract include US-based Hok, Dutch firm Naco, France’s Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPI), UK-based Mott MacDonald, the UK’s Jacobs Gibb and Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

Bahrain Airport Company is carrying out a $4.7bn expansion of the airport in order to increase capacity.

The expansion plans include building a second terminal adjacent to the existing terminal. This will expand capacity to 12 million passengers a year from the current 5 million passengers.

A second phase of work involves building Terminal 1A alongside the existing building and then demolishing and rebuilding the existing terminal. This will be known as Terminal 1B (MEED 26:1:10).

Bahrain Airport Company is due to tender the design contract for the two new terminals in the first quarter of 2010.

In May 2009, US-based Hill International won a four-year contract to provide project management services for the project.