Tunisia's Equipment, Housing & Land Planning Ministry has received two bids for the contract to design and build a 2.1-kilometre (km) viaduct linking Tunis and Bizerte. 

MEED understands two companies have submitted proposals for the contract.

They are Sichuan Road & Bridge Group, which submitted an offer of TD610m ($197.5m), and China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, which offered TD840m for the contract.

In October 2022, MEED reported that Tunisia's Equipment, Housing & Infrastructure Ministry had qualified eight of the 13 companies and consortiums that submitted statements of qualifications (SOQs) for the contract.

The firms that passed the ministry's prequalification process included:

• China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group
• Vinci (France) / Tekfen (Turkiye)
• Arab Contractors (Egypt) / Poly Changda (China)
• China Road & Bridge Corporation/China Communications Construction Company / Puentes Y Calzadas Infraestructuras (Spain)
• Eiffage (France) / Nurol (Turkiye)
• IHI (Japan)
• Sichuan Road & Bridge Group (China)
• Ictas (Turkiye) / Cimolai (Italy)

The Tunis-Bizerte viaduct has three sections. The south liaison road, which comprises lot one, includes three interchanges. The main viaduct comprises lot two. The north liaison road, lot three, will feature one interchange.

Lot two comprises a 2km mixed lattice viaduct made up of 19 spans.

The European Investment Bank and African Development Bank are co-financing the project.

According to data from regional projects tracker Meed Projects, $3bn-worth of transport infrastructure projects, excluding airport terminals and seaports, is in the pre-execution phase in Tunisia.

The total value of transport infrastructure projects under execution in Tunisia is $3.1bn.