Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) has invited firms to bid for the contract to supervise and manage the construction of the new Crowne Plaza Duqm Resort on the Arabian Sea coast of the sultanate.

The resort is scheduled to open in 2011 and will have 228 rooms, including 11 executive suites and six smaller suites.

The Crowne Plaza’s parent company, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) signed an agreement to build the new hotel in December 2008 (MEED 2:12:08).

The resort will be the UK group’s sixth hotel project in Oman.

The government is developing a number of major projects in Duqm including an airport, a coal-fired power station and a shipyard.