Limak Investment of Turkey has won the contract to carry out the $400m renovation of terminal two at Cairo International airport.

Six companies bid for the deal in March. MEED reported in October that Limak was expected to win the contract (MEED 16:10:11). The client on the project is Cairo Airports Company, a division of the Egyptian Holding Company or Airports and Air Navigation.

The renovation of terminal two will involve upgrading the existing passenger terminal to handle up to 7.5 million passengers a year, more than double its current capacity of 3.5 million passengers a year. The project will also involve building a new departure hall and airside pier, as well as the construction of larger gates to accommodate Airbus A380 aircraft.

Construction work is expected to take three years, so the renovated terminal is likely to be complete in 2014. In March 2010, the Washington-headquartered World Bank approved a $280m loan to help finance the renovation of the terminal.

Progress on the project has been delayed until now. Companies were first asked to submit bids by 20 December 2010, which was then postponed to 20 January 2011, 7 February, 7 March and 22 March.

The final extension of the bid deadline to 22 March was due to political instability in Cairo at the time, which resulted in the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak.