The local Galfar Engineering & Contracting has been awarded an estimated OR138.9m ($361m) contract by Oman’s Transport and Communications Ministry to build the first phase of the 265-kilometre Batinah Expressway project.

The first phase of the project covers the construction of the 45km stretch of the road from Naseem Garden to Suwaiq. The first phase is scheduled to take three years to complete.

The 265km-long Batinah Expressway will extend from the current Muscat Expressway to Khatmat Malaha, located on the Oman/UAE border. The road will run parallel to the existing Batinah highway.

The Transport and Communications Ministry recently invited contractors to submit bids for the fourth phase of the expressway project. Contractors have until 16 April to submit bids for the contract. The ministry has already received bids for the second and third phases.

On 6 February, 17 contractors submitted prices for the 43km-long third package on the expressway project. In November 2011, the ministry received bids for the main construction contract on the second phase, which covers the section of road from Suwaiq to Shinas.

The expressway project has been allocated about OR250m in the sultanate’s eighth Five-Year Plan (2011 to 2015), which was announced by the government earlier in the year.