Oman’s Transport and Communication Ministry has invited firms to bid on a consultancy services contract to oversee rehabilitation work on the fourth phase of the Nizwa to Thumrait road.

Contractors have until the 19 July to submit bids for the consultancy deal.

In May the Ministry awarded three contracts totalling OR64.1m ($166m) for the construction works on the fourth phase of the road redevelopment. The ministry split the rehabilitation work into three separate packages.

Indian firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) 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.

For the first package, L&T will carry out rehabilitation work on 30 kilometres of road and bridges. The contract duration is one year.

The second package with Nasr Arabian is for general road improvements and building a new junction at Muntasar. It is expected to take two and a half years to complete.

Oman Gulf Company is also scheduled to take two and a half years to complete the third package, which involves building seven new junctions together with general rehabilitation works.

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 (MEED 10:5:10).