The third package for the 265km Batinah Expressway has attracted more than 15 companies since the tender was floated earlier this month by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC). The section, which runs between Suwaiq and Khabourah parallel to the existing Batinah Highway, is 43km long and is one of four packages totalling 180km being overseen by US-based project consultants Parsons.
Since the tender was floated on October 5, 16 companies have expressed interest in the project, including Strabag Oman, Larsen & Toubro (Oman) and Turkish company Makyol Gulf, which is building a section of the Batinah Coastal Road.
UAE-based Al Naboodah Contracting has also expressed interest in the project, along with Galfar and Turkish company Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya, which won the contract to build the second section of the first phase of the lucrative BidBid-Sur road.
Stefan Altziebler, general manager of Strabag Oman, told Muscat Daily the new road will help improve safety on the main roads through the Batinah, as well as ease up congestion on the network. "In terms of time to UAE there may not be much of a difference, but there will be a big difference from a safety point of view. This road will be much more safe, and it will also take much more traffic than the existing road."
Involving 100mn m2 of earthwork, 930,000 tonnes of asphalt and 250,000 m3 of concrete, the package will see the construction of five overpasses and four wadi bridges.
The third package will also involve the construction of five interchanges, linking up with Khadra al Sa'ad, Khabourah and Hafeet roundabouts on the existing Batinah Highway.
The road is one of 12 highlighted earlier this year by Dr Muhammad bin Aref Abu-Zaki, a roads expert at MoTC as key upcoming road projects for the sultanate. Speaking at the Oman Transport and Infrastructure Summit in September, he said that the Batinah Expressway, once completed, will be the fastest route to UAE.
The road, which will be an extension to the Muscat Expressway, will begin where the Muscat Expressway currently ends, at Halban, and will run almost parallel to the Batinah Highway to the Khatmat Malaha border post with UAE.
Although Parsons is handling the first 180km of the road, the final 85km stretch will be overseen by Turkish consultants BOTEK.
© Muscat Daily 2011
