Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry has invited groups to bid for the contract to build the first part of the dual carriageway between Bidbid and Sur.

Contractors have until 27 September to submit bids for the project. By 14 September, 48 local and international firms had collected documents for the tender.

The contract is for the first package of the first phase to dualise the Bidbid to Sur road. The road project will be divided into two phases. The scope of work for the first package involves the construction of 42km of dual carriageway and some minor adjoining roads. The work will also include constructing bridges and cutting and filling work.

The second package for the first phase will involve the construction of 76.9km of dual carriageway. Tenders for this contract have not yet been issued.

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 of the road.

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.

The project is part of large-scale plans to upgrade and expand road infrastructure throughout the sultanate. In the 2010 budget, the government allocated about OR1.7bn ($4.4bn) towards the road sector, an increase of OR724m on the amount allocated in 2009.

In May, the transport ministry awarded three contracts totalling OR64.1m for construction works on the Nizwa to Thumrait road (MEED 10:5:10).

The ministry split the fourth phase of the rehabilitation works on the Nizwa to Thumrait road into three separate packages. Indian firm Larsen & Toubro won the first package with a bid of OR8.1m, the local Nasr Arabian Company won the second package with a bid of OR24m and the local Oman Gulf Company was awarded the last package with a price of OR31.9m.

The three contracts are part of a broader scheme to convert the road from Nizwa, in the northeast of Oman, to Thumrait, in the southern area of the sultanate, into dual carriageway.