Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry has extended the deadline to 3 March for contractors to submit bids for the deal to build package 11 of the Batinah expressway project.

The original deadline was 19 January.

Earlier this year, MEED reported that technical bids for packages seven, eight and nine and 10 had been submitted.

In December 2014, MEED reported that in August, India’s Nagarjuna Construction Company was awarded a $371.3m contract to build the retendered second package of the Batinah expressway scheme.

In 2013, another Indian firm, Simplex Infrastructures, won a $318m deal for package three, along with India’s Larsen & Toubro, which 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 265-kilometre-long Batinah Expressway will be Oman’s biggest road scheme and will link Muscat to the UAE border.

Follow Hossam Abougabal on Twitter @MEEDHossam