Eight contractors submitted bids for the civil works package for the expansion of Yemen’s Mukalla International airport on 2 February.

Sources say that the contract will be awarded within the next two months, once it gains approval from the Washington DC-based World Bank which is backing the project.

The airport contract was initially tendered in mid-November last year with a deadline of 29 December. This was then extended until 19 January and further extended until 2 February.

The works package contract includes the expansion of the passenger terminal building, packing and landscape improvements, runway lights upgrading, replacement of equipment in the control regulator stations and additional transformer equipment. The construction period is for 16 months.

The expanded airport will support the growth of Mukalla’s port and forms part of the World Bank-funded Second Port Cities Development project in Yemen.

The project aims to improve access to public infrastructure in the three port cities of Aden, Hodeidah and Mukalla.

Yemen’s Port Cities development programme is now entering its second phase after its first phase, which focused on the upgrading of the port city of Aden, finished in 2010. The second phase will focus on the ports of Hodeidah and Mukalla.

A decision over the award of a consultancy services contract for the Mukalla airport expansion is still pending. Bids have been submitted last year and the World Bank is currently evaluating a shortlist of potential companies.