The Transport & Communication Ministry has invited international companies to bid by 28 December for the contract to expand a road running from Nizwa to Ibri.

The companies will bid to upgrade the section of the road from Jabrin to Ibri by turning it into a dual carriageway.

Contractors finished the first stage of the project two years ago. The local/Austrian Strabag Oman upgraded the road between Nizwa and Jabrin.

The engineering consultant for both stages of the scheme is the local Conser Consulting Engineers.

The Transport and Communication Ministry has also extended the tender closing date for another road project. The new closing date for the contract to build a road between Teetam to Qafout is 23 November, three weeks later than the original closing date of 2 November.

The ministry has awarded contracts for two other road projects in the second half of 2009.

In September, the local Desert Line Projects won a RO23m ($59.4m) contract to build the road between Argoutt and Sorfait in the Dhofar governorate near the Yemeni border in the south of the sultanate (MEED 17:9:09).

In June, the joint venture of Italy’s Federici Stirling and Lebanon’s Batco was awarded a RO23m contract to upgrade the road between Zurub and Buraimi.