Oman’s Transport and Communications Ministry has extended the bid submission date for the third construction package on its Batinah Expressway project.

Contractors now have until 6 February 2012 to submit bids for the third package on the 265-kilometre-long expressway project. The previous submission date was 16 January.

The expressway will extend from the current Muscat Expressway to Khatmat Malaha, located on the Oman/UAE border. The road will run parallel to the existing Batinah highway (MEED 14:10:11).

On 21 November, the ministry received bids for the main construction contract on the second phase on the road project. The second package will cover the construction of 45km of the road from Suwaiq to Shinas.

In early October, contractors submitted bids for the first package on the project, which covers the construction of the road from Naseem Garden to Suwaiq.

The expressway project has been allocated about RO250m ($649m) in the sultanate’s eighth five-year plan (2011-15), which was announced by the government in early 2011.