Dubai Municipality has received bids for the contract to build the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Library.

The lowest bidder is the local ASGC with a price of AED898m ($245m), which is about 1 per cent lower than the second lowest offer of AED909m submitted bit the local Al-Faraa Contracting Company. 

The bidders and prices are:

• ASGC (local) - AED898m
• Al-Faraa Contracting Company (local) - AED909m
• Saudi Binladin Group (Saudi Arabia) - AED910m
• Al-Ghandi Consolidated Contractors Company (local/Athens-based) - AED971m
• Habtoor Leighton Group (local/Australia) - AED984m

The 92,903-square-metre scheme, which is set to be the biggest public library in the Middle East, will also include a 500-seat theatre.

It will house more than 4.5 million books and include several areas for interaction, events, activities, and educational and cultural festivals.

The consultancies working on the project are the local Architectural Consulting Group (ACG) and the UAE office of the US’ Miro.

Dubai announced plans to develop the library in the Al-Jadaf area near the Dubai Creek in February.