Oman’s Transport and Communications Ministry has awarded a joint venture of Italy’s Astaldi and Turkey’s Ozkar Insaat Sanayl Ve Ticaret a OR125.2m ($325m) contract to build the phase 1a of the dual carriageway between Bidbid and Sur.

The joint venture was the low bidder for phase 1a of the road project, and saw off competition from 11 other companies to win the deal.

The first phase of the Bidbid-Sur road project is divided into packages 1a and 1b. Both of the packages will involve the construction of about 50km of dual carriageway and some minor adjoining roads. The work will also include constructing bridges and cutting and filling work.

The joint venture of Italy’s Astaldi and Turkey’s Ozkar Insaat Sanayl Ve Ticaret is also the low bidder for phase 1b of the project, having submitted a price of OR121.6m. Turkey’s Sezai Turkes submitted the second lowest price of OR137m (MEED 7:1:11).

Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) has been appointed as consultant for the first phase of the project. Denmark’s Cowi & Partners has been contracted as consultant to study, design and supervise the construction of the dual-carriageway for the 143km second phase.

The road between Bidbid and Sur is a major transport link in the sultanate, connecting the capital city of Muscat to the Sharqiyah region in the north-eastern part of Oman (MEED 17:9:10).