Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) has received prequalification documents for the contract to build the estimated $1bn Louvre museum on Saadiyat island.

TDIC invited companies to prequalify for a second time in March, almost three years after firms were first invited to prequalify for the project.

The planned 24,000 square-metre Louvre Abu Dhabi has suffered from a series of delays since the project was launched in 2007. Contractors were first prequalified for the main construction contract in 2009 and the client received bids for the tender in November 2010. After shortlisting two contractors for the main construction package in 2011, TDIC has now decided to cancel the original tender and re-open the prequalification process.

Regional contractors had hoped the Louvre project would be fast-tracked after the Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved the museum’s planned expenditure in January. The re-opening of the tender has raised doubts among contractors regarding whether construction work will now commence before the end of 2012.

After receiving bids from at least five groups in November 2010, TDIC shortlisted Canada’s Brookfield Multiplex and a joint venture of Al-Habtoor Leighton Group with South Africa’s Murray & Roberts Contractors (Middle East) in early 2011. But after a year, and no further announcements, TDIC has re-opened the tender.

Contractors say that the new construction tender appears to be the same as the previous one. The main package will involve the concrete structure and superstructure works, structural steel works, cladding and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is part of the capital’s 18-square-kilometre Saadiyat Island Cultural District. Piling work on the Louvre project has been completed by Germany’s Bauer.