The Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) has awarded a OR16.7m ($43.3m) contract to the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company to build the new Crowne Plaza Hotel resort in Duqm.

Galfar was awarded the contract on 18 October. The local contractor saw off competition from 14 other bidders to win the deal. Spanish contractor Assignia Infraestructuras had submitted the lowest bid with a price of OR16.4m ($42.7m).

The resort, which will be built on the sultanate’s Arabian Sea coastline, will have 228 rooms, including 11 executive suites and six smaller suites.

The Crowne Plaza’s parent company, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), signed an agreement to manage the new hotel in December 2008. The resort will be the group’s sixth hotel project in Oman.

Omran recently awarded Denmark’s Cowi & Partners a OR742,000 contract to supervise and manage the construction of the hotel project.

The government is developing a number of major projects in Duqm, including an airport and a ship repair and drydock complex.

Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry recently received bids from five contractors for a $111m infrastructure package on its Duqm airport project. The ministry received bids for the infrastructure deal on 13 June. The successful contractor will build a runway and airfield infrastructure.

South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Company submitted the lowest bid with a price of OR42.9m. This was 8 per cent lower than the OR46.6m submitted by the second lowest bidder, India’s Larsen & Toubro (MEED 24:6:10).