Bahrain’s Nass Contracting Company has won the contract to finish building the Isa Town Gate interchange in northern Bahrain.

Nass was the low bidder with a price of BD27.8m ($73.7m), while the only other bidder, the local Ahmed Mansoor al-A’ali Company submit a bid of BD46.8m (MEED 4:4:10).

Nass signed the contract on 8 April.

Bahrain’s Works Ministry was forced to look for another contractor to finish building the interchange after the original contractor, South Korea’s Sungwon suffered financial problems and was unable to fulfil its contractual obligations.

Sungwon was awarded the $109m contract in 2007. The contract involved the construction of a three-level interchange, including a flyover and underpass, on Sheikh Salman road.

The budget of the project is currently BD41m ($109m) but may increase by BD1m, says Fahmi bin Ali al-Jowder, Works Minister and the minister in charge of electricity and water authority.

“The budget will not change much as we will cash in its [Sungwon] bond. It might increase half a million or one million in the worst case,” Al-Jowder tells MEED.

The ministry will now complete the project in phases. It will open the underpass on Sheikh Salman road first and finish half of the flyover in 12 months time. The Isa Town Gate interchange is aimed at reducing traffic congestion at the junction by more than 50 per cent.

The consultant on the scheme is the UK’s Hyder Consulting.