Prospective bidders include the local/UK Carillion Alawi, the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting with India’s Larsen & Toubro, and Athen’s-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCIC) with Turkey’s TAV.

The ministry has also received bids from four companies for the dredging and reclamation works on the Muscat International Airport expansion project (MEED 19:10:08).

The low bidder is Royal Boskalis Westminister of the Netherlands with a price of RO17m ($46m).

The other bidders are Van Oord, also of the Netherlands, Belgium's Jan de Nul and the local Desert Line Projects.

The works involve creating new areas of land to accommodate the expanding airport.

When complete it will have capacity for 12 million passengers a year.

The airport, formerly Seeb International Airport, currently handles about 4.5 million passengers a year.

The new terminal building will have a floor area of about 290,000 square metres. Completion is expected by 2011.

Companies have also been invited to submit bids by 3 November for the first main contract on the development of Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport.

The team of Denmark's Cowi and the local Larsen Architects & Consulting Engineers prepared the concept designs for the project.

A joint venture of France's Aeroports de Paris and Pakistan's National Engineering Services Pakistan & Partners is the project manager for the project.