Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry has invited companies to bid by 15 September for the contract to build package seven of the Batinah Expressway scheme in the north of the sultanate.

In May, India’s Nagarjuna Construction Company submitted the low bid for package two, which covers a 45-kilometre stretch from Suwaiq to Shinas, not under contract.

In 2012, the tender for package two was issued to a consortium of Malaysian construction firm WCT Engineering and Oman Roads Engineering Company, but the deal was cancelled last year and retendered in 2013.

Also in 2012, the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting won a $361m contract for package one of the Batinah Expressway project. In 2013, package three of the scheme was awarded to India’s Simplex Infrastructures for $318m, while India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was awarded a $353m deal for package four.

In another two contracts awarded in 2013, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) won a $322m deal for package 6, while a joint venture led by the local Federici Stirling Batco secured a $345m deal for package five.

The new 265km-long expressway, which is Oman’s biggest road scheme, will create the first dual four-lane motorway in the sultanate, linking Muscat to the new Sohar port and the UAE border.