India’s Nagarjuna Construction Company has been awarded a RO143m ($371.3m) contract to build the second package of the Batinah Expressway project in Oman.

Package two was retendered in 2013 after the Transport & Communications Ministry cancelled the original deal with a consortium of Malaysian construction firm WCT Engineering and Oman Roads Engineering Company, which had been awarded the contract in 2012.

The new 265-kilometre-long Batinah Expressway, Oman’s biggest road scheme, will create the first dual four-lane motorway in the sultanate and will link Muscat to the new Sohar Port and the UAE border.

The Transport & Communications Ministry had recently invited contractors to submit bids for three new packages on the scheme. For package nine, contractors have until 6 October to submit prices. The ministry has set dates of 15 September and 22 September for packages seven and eight respectively.

To date, the ministry has awarded almost $2.1bn of construction contracts for the first six packages of the project.

In 2013, India’s Simplex Infrastructures was awarded a $318m deal for package three and India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was awarded a $353m contract for package four.

Also in 2013, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) won a $322m deal for package six, while a joint venture led by the local Federici Stirling Batco secured a $345m deal for package five.

In 2012, the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting was awarded a $361m contract for the first package on the expressway project

The US’ Parsons International designed the first and second section of the carriageway, which together account for a 180km section, while Turkey’s Bosphorous Technical Consulting Corporation is providing the consultancy services for the remaining 85km stretch of the road project.