Oman’s Transport and Communications Ministry has invited contractors to submit bids for third construction package on its Batinah Expressway project.

Contractors have until 5 December to submit bids for the third package on the 265-kilometre-long expressway project, which will extend from the current Muscat Expressway to Khatmat Malaha, located on the Oman/UAE border. The expressway will run parallel to the existing Batinah highway.

The Transport Ministry has also extended the submission date for the second package on the road project to 17 October. The previous submission date was 26 September. The second package will cover the construction of 45km of the road from Suwaiq to Shinas.

On 3 October, contractors submitted bids for the first package on the project, which is for 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 earlier in the year.

In September, MEED reported that Oman’s Transport and Communications Ministry had received bids for four road projects worth a total of $326.7m.

The biggest project is for the first section of the works to upgrade the Sinaw-Duqm road. The local Premier International Projects submitted the lowest bid of RO38.4m. The local Ali & Company Trading & Contracting submitted the second-lowest bid of RO38.5m, and the Oman Roads Engineering Company submitted the third-lowest bid of RO38.6m.

For the contract to upgrade the fourth section of the Sinaw-Duqm road, the Transport and Communications Ministry received bids from 15 contractors. The local Wade Adams Oman submitted the low bid of RO25m. This was 11.7 per cent lower than the second-lowest price of RO28.3m, submitted by Premier International Projects.

A total of 14 contractors submitted bids for the contract to build an asphalt road to Wadi al-Sahtan. The local Arabian Projects & Transport submitted the low bid of RO31.6m. The local National United Engineering Construction Company submitted the second-lowest price of RO32m.

For the fourth project, the ministry received bids from 15 firms for the contract to build the Ubaylah-Fayyad road. National United Engineering Construction Company submitted the low bid of RO31m. This was marginally lower than the RO31.1m price entered by Ali & Company Trading & Contracting (MEED 7:9:11).