If appointed, the two companies will oversee the contracting consortium on behalf of the client, the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation.

The construction contract was awarded in May, to a consortium led by Qatari Diar and France’s Vinci Construction Grand Projets.

The group also includes Ger-many’s Hochtief, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company, Belgium’s Dredging International and the local Middle East Dredging Company.

Denmark’s Cowi is working as the design consultant on behalf of the consortium.

Other bidders for the programme management role included the UK’s Mott MacDonald and Germany’s Lahmeyer (MEED 19:8:08).

Named the Friendship Causeway, the project will link Ras Ashiraj on the west coast of Qatar to the village of Askar on the east coast of Bahrain.

The 45-kilometre crossing will consist of a dual carriageway. It will run over embankments for an 18km section where the sea is shallow.

For a 22km area of deeper water, a series of bridges and viaducts will be used, including two 400-metre cable-stayed bridges over the main shipping channel.

The causeway is one of the most ambitious projects in the Gulf and has been in the planning stages for almost a decade.