The local Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company has submitted the low bid for a contract to upgrade the road between Taqah and Mirbat in Oman.

The scope of work entails the construction of a 35-kilometre road linking Taqah to Mirbat in the governorate of Dhofar. The road will be a key stretch that connects Salalah with the wilayats of Sadah, Kasik and Shuwaymiyah on Dhofar’s east coast.

The local Al-Manarah Engineering Consultancy is the consultant on the scheme, which includes building flyovers and associated facilities. The tender was floated in September 2013 and bids were opened on 1 May.

Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry received bids from the following four firms for the contract:

• Galfar Engineering & Contracting (local) - $105m
• Nagarjuna Construction Company (India) - $108.2m
• Oman Company for Building and Contracting (Oman) - $129m
• Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya (Turkey) - $144.3m

The sultanate continues to develop large road projects as it seeks to bolster its economy by developing modernised and integrated transport infrastructure.

Earlier this month, the ministry issued a tender for an estimated $1bn deal to design, build and operate the second section of the new road connecting Khasab and Lima in the Musandam governorate.

The scheme involves building a new 65km stretch of road that will connect the town of Khasab on the peninsula’s north coast and the remote town of Lima on the eastern coast, which is not currently accessible by road. The successful bidder will also build as many as seven tunnels totalling 7,320km in length, including a 2.2km-long tunnel that will be the longest of its kind in the sultanate.

It marks the first time that a design, build and operate procurement strategy has been incorporated into a major civil construction project in Oman.

Earlier in May, Nagarjuna Construction Company submitted the low bid for package two of the Batinah Expressway scheme in the sultanate. The new 265km-long expressway, which is Oman’s biggest road scheme, will create the first dual four-lane motorway in the sultanate, linking Muscat to the new Sohar port and the UAE border.

The project has been divided into six packages, with only package two, which covers a 45km stretch from Suwaiq to Shinas, not under contract.