The Oman tender board approved the award of RO270m ($702m) of infrastructure contracts on 24 November, which included deals for the construction of the Adam-Thumrait and Barka-Nakhal dual carriageways.

A package for the Adam-Thumrait dual carriageway, worth RO110m, is expected to be awarded to the UAE’s Ghantoot Transport & General Contracting. A second package, worth RO91m, is expected to be let to Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), although the contractors for both deals have yet to receive confirmation.

Work on the dual carriageway is expected to start within a month, and is scheduled for completion by 2017.

The tender board has also approved the award of a package for the Barka-Nakhal dual carriageway in the Al-Batinah South governorate, worth RO65m.

The projects are part of the sultanate’s programme to upgrade and expand its road links.

In August, the US’ Hill International was awarded a contract to provide project management services for the construction of the RO432m Bidbid-Sur road in Oman.

Hill International’s three-year contract for management of the construction of the 247-kilometre road scheme is worth an estimated RO1.5m. The project will involve upgrading the single carriageway road into a six-lane highway. The scheme was originally just to upgrade the road into a dual carriageway, but the client for the project, the Transport & Communications Ministry, has since approved the decision to build a third lane in each direction.

In February, the ministry awarded India’s Larsen & Toubro and the local Khalid bin Ahmed & Sons (KAS) contracts to build section 2 of the Bidbid-Sur road.