Beijing-based China Harbour Engineering Company (Chec) has emerged as the low bidder with a price of QR3.08bn for the first major construction contract on the New Doha port project.

The tender is the largest construction deal to be submitted by contractors in Qatar this year.

The local/Australian Al-Habtoor Leighton Group is the second lowest bidder for the contract with a price of QR3.65bn, and the consortium of Van Oord and Bam, both of the Netherlands, and Belgium’s Six Construct submitted the third lowest price of QR3.95.

The client may not award the contract to the lowest bidder as the second and third lowest bids are better technically giving them a higher overall ranking, say sources close to the bidding process.

A total of nine groups submitted bids on 17 April for the contract (MEED 23:4:10).

The New Doha Port project bidders include:

• Jan de Nul (Belgium), STFA (Turkey), Impregilo (Italy)
• Van Oord (Netherlands), Six Construct (Belgium), Bam (Netherlands)
• Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea), Al-Jaber (local)
• Archirodon Construction (Geneva-registered), Consolidated Contractors Company (Athens-based), Teyseer Contracting (local)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea), Boskalis (Netherlands)
• Al-Habtoor Leighton Group (Australia/UAE)
• Middle East Dredging Company (local), Dredging International (Belgium), MT Hojgaard Al-Obaidly (local/Denmark)
• Qatari Diar Investment Company (local), Vinci Construction Grands Projets (France), Sinohydro (China), Redco International (local)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)

The winning consortium will have to excavate 58 million cubic metres of material covering an area of 3.2 square kilometres and to a depth of 18 metres and build 8 kilometres of quay wall, and a 5km-long rubble breakwater.

The first phase will have a capacity of 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 15-metre-deep approach channel, an 8- to 13.5-metre-deep harbour basin and berths for general cargo, including vessels from the Qatari and visiting navies (MEED 23:2:10).

The New Doha Port Project Steering Committee is the project client and is aiming to finish the first phase of the project in 2014. It declined to comment on the tender, the prices and the identity of the bidders.

Australia’s WorleyParsons is the engineering consultant on the project and US-based Aecom is the programme manager of the scheme.

The New Doha Port will be built at Mesaieed, south of Doha, and will replace the existing Doha port on the city’s Corniche. The new port will support industrial development in the area.

Two later phases are also planned, which will add 8 million TEUs a year to the port’s total capacity.