Oman-based developer The Wave has received bids for the contract to build the Kempinski hotel on its Wave development near Muscat.

The developer received bids from at least seven contractors on 2 January.

The bidders include:

• Al-Habtoor Leighton (UAE/Australia)
• Al-Turki Enterprises (local)
• Carillion Alawi (local/UK)
• Douglas OHI (local/UAE)
• Laing O’Rourke (UK)
• Multiplex (Australia), Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Murray & Roberts (South Africa), Bahwan Engineering (local)

The Kempinski will have 350 rooms with suites, as well as business and leisure facilities. The development is expected to open in the first quarter of 2013.

The mixed-use Wave project is being developed through a joint venture of UAE-based Majid al-Futtaim (MAF) and the Omani government.

This $3bn scheme, located on the coast at Muscat, covers an area of 2.2 million square metres and includes 4,000 residential properties, four hotels, a 400-berth marina and retail facilities. The development will also include an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman.

The Kempinski project is one of a number of hotels the sultanate is planning to build as part of its strategy to diversify its economy and expand its tourism sector

On 18 October, the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) awarded a OR16.7m ($43.3m) contract to the local Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company to build the new Crowne Plaza Hotel resort in Duqm .

The resort, which will be built on the sultanate’s Arabian Sea coastline, will have 228 rooms, including 11 executive suites and six smaller suites.

The Crowne Plaza’s parent company, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), signed an agreement to manage the new hotel in December 2008. The resort will be the group’s sixth hotel project in Oman.

Denmark’s Cowi & Partners has been appointed to manage and supervise the construction work (MEED 28:10:10).