Muscat - Well-known local and international engineering and construction firms have submitted commercial bids for packages 4, 5 and 6 of Oman's ambitious Batinah Expressway project. The three tenders were opened on June 11.
According to details on the Tender Board website, Indian engineering giant Larsen & ToubroÕs Oman subsidiary Larsen & Toubro (Oman) LLC is the lowest bidder for all three contracts.
As many as 11 local and international firms have submitted bids to build the 50km-long package 4 of the 265km-long expressway.
Larsen & Toubro (Oman) submitted the lowest offer of RO129.7mn for package 4, while the second lowest bidder is Nagarjuna Construction Co International LLC at RO132.6mn.
For package 4, local firms Galfar Engineering and Contracting Co, National United Engineering and Contracting Co and Khalid Bin Ahmed & Sons LLC submitted bids of RO161.7mn, RO150.9mn and RO144.9mn, respectively.
Package 5 attracted the bids of 18 local and international firms. Larsen & Toubro (Oman) submitted the lowest bid at RO121.2mn followed by local firm Sarooj Construction Co LLC at RO126.8mn.
Package 6, the last major contract of the expressway, received bids from 15 companies and the lowest bidder L&T (Oman) quoted a value of RO111.9mn, followed by Sarooj Construction at RO117.2mn.
In April, the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) awarded the contract for package 3 for RO122.35mn, which is the amount offered by India's Simplex Infrastructures Ltd.
The expressway's package 2, which was awarded to a joint venture of Malaysian firm WCT Berhad and Salalah-based Oman Roads Engineering Co, was recently cancelled by MoTC and is to be re-tendered.
The 45km-long package 1 was awarded to Galfar Engineering last year at a contract value of RO138.9mn.
The entire project will be completed in 11 packages, including link roads and the total estimated investment for the entire project will be around RO1bn.
© Muscat Daily 2013
