Under the fast-track, eight-month contract, Dar al-Handasah will carry out the full designs for the new terminal, which is set to handle 7.5 million passengers a year, and the new runway. Completion of the designs will be followed by the issue of the construction tender in 2006. Construction is set to take 30 months, with project completion planned for late 2008 or early 2009. The Hurghada airport expansion project is worth an estimated $170 million. Aeroports de Paris (AdP)has the six-year contract to manage Hurghada airport along with four other regional airports (MEED 24:12:04).

At least four design bids are understood to be at the final stage of evaluation at the ministry for another planned expansion project, at Borg el-Arab International Airport, located about 40 kilometres southwest of Alexandria. Preliminary designs for the project, which will be financed by the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC), were drawn up by the US' Aarotec. The project calls for the construction of a new terminal with capacity to handle 1 million passengers and 4,000 tonnes of cargo a year, as well as the upgrading of related facilities.

Tender documents have been issued to contractors on the project to build a new runway at Cairo International Airport with a mid-September bid closing date being set. The airport's third runway will serve both the two existing terminals and the planned new third terminal, which is under construction by a joint venture of Turkey's Tepe Akfen Ventures (TAV)and the local Holding Company for Roads & Bridges. The runway has been designed by AdP, with Dar al-Handasah acting as the project manager.

Both Dar al-Handasah and AdP are also working on the designs for a new control tower, which will serve both the existing and the new terminals. The construction tender will be issued in the first half of 2006. The client is Civil Airport Company(MEED 10:12:04).