The upgrade involves the reconstruction of a 95-kilometre stretch of highway and its expansion into an eight-lane expressway with hard shoulders, collector roads and interchanges.

Designs for Salwa road were prepared by the US' De Leuw Cather International. For the construction supervision contract, rebids were submitted in mid-July by four international consultants. The low bidder is the UK's High-Point Rendel at QR 22 million ($6 million).

The Salwa project is the largest contract so far awarded on the Qatar primary routes programme. The first major contract was awarded last August to Cyprus-based Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P - Overseas)for the construction of the Salwa and Immigration interchanges. Other contracts to be tendered include the estimated $190 million Dukhan highway upgrade, the $330 million north highway scheme and the $500 million Doha expressway.

The Salwa highway contract is the second major award won by United Engineers in Qatar in the space of three months. In late May, it was awarded the $91 million main works contract on the College of Technology project (MEED 30:5:03).