The group’s price of AED800m ($217m) is about 4 per cent lower than the bid of AED837m sub-mitted by the second-lowest bidder, the local United Engineering Construction.

The other bidders are a consortium of the local Al-Ahmadiah and Greece’s Aktor at AED850m, and three local companies: Ali Moosa & Sons with a bid of AED860m, Modern Building & Contracting Company with a bid of AED896m, and Robust Contracting Company with a bid of AED958m.

The scope of the contract involves the construction of a 248-bed six-storey hospital with a trauma centre, as well as general wards and departments for oncology and cardiology. The total built-up area is about 65,000 square metres.

The bids include a provisional sum of about AED120m for specialist medical equipment. US-based Perkins Eastman is the architect.

The project is the second major hospital tendered in the UAE recently. In December 2008, a joint venture of the local Arabtec Construction and Aktor won the estimated AED7bn design-and-build contract for the Cleveland Clinic on Abu Dhabi’s Sowwah island.

The project has a total built-up area of up to 417,000 sq m. It is due to open in 2011. The consultant is the UK’s Driver Consult.

Local developer Aldar Properties is managing the construction of the Cleveland Clinic on behalf of the government-controlled Mubadala Development Company.