Muscat - Italferr, the Italian State Railways Group engineering firm, has been awarded the 'consultancy services for preliminary design' contract for Oman's national railway project.
Italferr won the project pushing aside competition from DB International GmbH, a German engineering and consultancy firm, and National Engineering Office, an independent Omani multi-disciplinary firm, which submitted financial offers for the contract.
In a statement on its website, Italferr said three major design contracts were acquired recently by the company in the Arabian Gulf countries.
"In Oman, our company has been awarded the 'consultancy services for preliminary design of the national railway project' valued at about €27mn (RO13.58mn)," Italferr said.
The Italian company had submitted the lowest bid of RO12.35mn on the contract, while DB International and National Engineering Office submitted their offers at RO16.51mn and RO22.27mn, respectively.
Speaking to Muscat Daily, Luca Beccastrini, Middle East area manager for Italferr, confirmed the Oman project contract.
"We have received the letter of award. We were the lowest bidder for the contract," Beccastrini said.
Around 34 companies had collected the documents for the 'preliminary design' tender, which was floated in February. Technical bids were opened in May when around a dozen companies submitted offers.
The selected consultant will be responsible for provisional design of the complete infrastructure and systems covering all segments of the 1,061km railway project.
Italferr said that it was recently selected by the Saudi Railway Co for the preliminary and detailed design of the new 960km railway line to link Riyadh with Jeddah, valued at €28mn.
In Qatar, Italferr is developing the design for the Doha Metro after a year and a half of preliminary activities.
Meanwhile, the sultanate's Tender Board has extended the deadline for the submission of bids for the 'project management consultancy' contract on Oman's railway project by four weeks.
The 'project management consultancy' tender, which was floated in June, had the last submission date set for July 29, which has been extended to August 26. As many as 28 companies have collected documents on the contract.
© Muscat Daily 2013
