A joint venture of Malaysia’s WCT Berhad and the local Oman Roads Engineering Company has been awarded the estimated RO123.2m ($320m) contract to build the second phase of the Batinah Expressway in Oman.

The joint venture will build 45 kilometres of the planned 265km-long Batinah Expressway project. The consortium had submitted the low bid for the construction contract on 2 April, and saw off competition from 13 other contractors to win the deal. The client for the road project is the sultanate’s Transport and Communications Ministry.

The 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 has invited companies to submit bids for the contract to provide bids for the project management of the six packages on the Batinah project. Consultants have until 22 October to submit prices for the project management deal. Contractors are currently working on submissions for the fifth and sixth construction packages of the expressway scheme. Firms have until the 3 September to submit prices for the fifth package, and 8 October for the sixth package.

In March, the ministry awarded the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting an estimated RO138.9m contract to build the first phase of the expressway. The first phase of the project covers the construction of the 45km stretch of the road from Naseem Garden to Suwaiq and is scheduled to take three years to complete.

The ministry received bids for the third and fourth packages of the expressway scheme in May.