Eleven firms have submitted bids for the retendered second package of the 260km Batinah Expressway project. The $2.6bn project is Oman’s biggest road scheme and will create the first dual four-lane motorway in the sultanate.

The project has been divided into six packages, with only package 2 not under contract. In 2012, the tender for package 2 was issued to a consortium of Malaysian construction firm WCT Engineering and Oman Roads Engineering Company, but the contract was cancelled earlier this year and retendered in July.

In September, Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry reissued a tender for package 2, with bids due on 18 November.

Oman’s tender board has opened technical bids for the retendered contract, and the commercial bids will be opened later.

The bidders for the second package are as follows:

• Makyol Gulf (Turkey)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (Greece)
• Shapoorji Construction (India)
• Strabag Oman (local)
• Sezai Turkes – Feyzi Akkaya, Yuksal (Turkey)
• Galfar Engineering (Oman)
• Nagarjuna Construction Company (India)
• Khalid bin Ahmed & Sons (Oman)
• Shanfari and Partners (Oman)
• Ghantoot Transport and General Contracting (UAE)

The US’ Parsons International designed the first and second section of the carriageway, which together account for a 180-km section, while Turkey’s Bosphorous Technical Consulting Corporation is providing the consultancy services for the remaining 85-km stretch of the road project. 

In 2012, the local Galfar Engineering won a $361m deal for package one of the Batinah Expressway project. Earlier this year, package three of the scheme was awarded to India’s Simplex Infrastructures for $318m, while India’s Larsen & Toubro was awarded a $353m contract for package four. In August, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) won a $322m deal for package six, while a joint venture led by the local Federici Stirling Batco won a $345m deal for package five.