Galfar Engineering and Contracting has won the RO29.7mn contract to build a border post on the Oman-Saudi Arabia road which is currently under construction.
Awarded by the Directorate General of Projects and Maintenance at the Royal Oman Police, work is set to begin by mid-December with a scheduled contract length of 540 days.
Jai K Salvi, vice president of business development at Galfar, told Muscat Daily the development will be on a 50,000 sq m plot on the Omani side of the border. "It will be similar to the UAE border post, but it will be a complete establishment in one location."
Speaking at a recent press event, Freezone Sohar CEO Jamal Aziz said the new road is nearing completion and should be ready within a year.
Work on the 1,400km road, which will run to Riyadh, began in 2007 after the two sides agreed to build a border checkpoint in 2005. The checkpoint will be called the Rub al Khali Entry Point on the Saudi side and Ramlat Khaliya on the Omani side.
Aziz said, "The road actually exists on the Omani side. There is a small stretch on the Saudi side that needs to be completed, but the work is taking place on the Saudi side at the moment.
"There is a joint committee of Omani and Saudi authorities which is looking after this road. We are following up on the progress on the road almost on a weekly basis."
Mohammed Daghmash, chairman of Oman-based produce importers Al Nur, added at the same event that the road will help cut customs costs as well as slash delivery times into Saudi Arabia as well as Turkey and the Mediterranean.
"From a commercial side, it will cut a lot in taxes from the UAE or other countries, and we will save around 1,000km which will keep the commodities more fresh in the case of produce."
© Muscat Daily 2011
