MUSCAT -- A much-awaited contract for the modernisation of Salalah International Airport is due to be awarded shortly. In contention for the prestigious contract, with an estimated value in excess of RO 300 million, are three well-known bidding groups: the joint venture of Larsen & Toubro and Galfar Engineering & Contracting, which has submitted the lowest bid; followed by the joint venture of Alsim Alarko and NCC; and J&P.
The contract is the second largest in value of a total of five main packages covering the modernisation and expansion of Muscat and Salalah international airports. The biggest of these packages, centring on the construction of the Muscat International Airport terminal, was awarded last week at a cost of RO 706 million.
The selected bidder will win a contract to build an international-class gateway in Salalah that has the potential to give robust impetus to socio-economic development in Dhofar Governorate.
Tourist traffic and tourism investment in the region are expected to soar when the upgraded airport is operational by around the year 2014. As with all airport projects, the Ministry of Transport and Communications is overseeing the modernisation of Salalah International Airport. As part of the upgrade, a new passenger terminal covering an area of 71,000 sq metres will be built with a capacity to cater to one million passengers per annum.
A new 4km-long runway, large enough to handle even the superjumbo Airbus A380, will be built.
Also envisaged as part of the airport's modernisation are a state-of-the-art air traffic control tower, fuel farm, passenger boarding bridges, cargo terminal, MRO facility, catering building and other facilities.
The upcoming contract award will bring to a close a keenly contested tendering phase for the high-profile project.
A tender for the modernisation of Salalah Airport was first floated two years ago. Three prequalified bidders -- Alsim Alarko/NCC JV, Larsen & Toubro/Galfar JV and J&P -- submitted offers.
Recently, the Tender Board issued a revised project scope and invited all three parties to submit their final offers. Those final offers were opened last week.
According to observers, the protracted course of the tendering process reflects the complex and challenging nature of the airport contract -- a project that only firms with robust experience in airport development can successfully undertake. Moreover, each bidder's ability to adopt an integrated approach to executing a myriad of complex project components is also being carefully evaluated by authorities.
All three bidders have varied expertise in airport development to their credit. L&T, which has joined hands with Galfar to bid for the Salalah Airport project, has completed three of the largest airport developments in India, and is also upgrading the Mumbai International Airport.
Galfar has executed the Engineering-Procurement-Construction package of three airports built for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
Partners in the Alsim Alarko/NCC JV have experience in airport construction in Turkey and CIS countries. J&P has to its credit, among other contracts, the construction of the existing Salalah Airport.
A 30-month construction time frame has been specified for the execution of the Salalah Airport package. The design of the airport will allow for future expansions to be undertaken with relative ease. The modernised airport will also serve as an international and domestic hub for sea cargo in conjunction with the Port of Salalah and the Salalah Free Zone.
Conrad Prabhu
© Oman Daily Observer 2010
