Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has extended the tender closing date for the contract to build a bridge that will take Al-Khail Road over a new waterway connecting Business Bay and Meydan to 11 Janaury.

Contractors were originally invited contractors to submit bids by 21 December. That deadline was then moved to 4 January.

Once completed, Al-Khail Road will bridge a section of canal linking the Dubai Water Canal or Dubai Creek Extension with a waterway that will run through the Meydan development.

The works involve the construction of road bridges together with excavation and marine works for the waterway.

The consultant is US-based Aecom.

The Al-Khail Road scheme is similar to works completed on Sheikh Zayed Road in 2016 for the Dubai Water Canal, although the bridge and excavation work for that project were executed as separate packages. The contractor for the bridge was Turkey’s Mapa Gunal and the contractor for the excavation and marine works was the local/Belgian Belhasa Six Construct.

Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation was the contractor for the bridges taking Al-Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road across the Dubai Canal.

According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the RTA awarded more than $1.45bn of construction contracts in 2017. Overall, the agency has $5.57bn of ongoing projects in Dubai.