09 May 2011
MUSCAT -- Well-known local and international construction firms are lining up to bid for a 45-stretch of the Batinah Expressway project, representing Package 1 of an ambitious plan by the government to build a new superhighway for passenger and goods traffic through the rapidly industrialising Batinah region.
Around 14 firms have so far signalled a desire to participate in a competitive tender for Package 1 of the project, estimated to cost RO 150 million. Companies that have purchased bid documents thus far are STFA, Simplex Infrastructures, Desert Line Projects, National United Engineering, Sarooj Construction, Galfar Engineering, Consolidated Contractors, Kayson al Omania, Federici-Stirling BATCO, Strabag Oman, Larsen & Toubro (Oman), Mapa Gunal Oman, Al Nahdah al Omaniah and Monte Adriano ME.
The 265-kilometre expressway has been conceived as a westward extension of the newly commissioned Muscat Expressway, which runs from Qurum to Naseem Garden (Muscat City limit). Aligned mostly in parallel with the existing Batinah Highway, the dual three-lane carriageway will hug the foothills of the Northern Hajar mountains as it travels all the way to Khatmat Malaha on Oman's border with the UAE.
Package 1 of the project currently out to tender comprises a 45-kilometre stretch that starts at Naseem Garden (city limit) and ends at Suwaiq. Designed and built to the international standards of an expressway, the blacktop will be integrated with the Batinah Highway via a series of interchanges and link roads.
In all, three grade-separated interchanges will be constructed as part of the Package 1 works.
Corresponding link roads connecting the expressway to the highway are currently under construction as part of a separate contract. However, the selected contractor will have to build a fourth link road connecting the expressway to the highway at Barka. A network of service roads leading to the surrounding neighbourhoods will be added as well.
In addition, the selected contractor will also construct a total of five overpasses at different locations across the expressway. A total of three wadi bridges will also be built, as will around 220 single and multi-cell reinforced concrete box culverts. Also included in the package is the construction of a median drainage system, dykes and embankment protections.
Well-known engineering consultant Parsons is the design and project management consultant for a 180-kilometre stretch of the expressway extending from Naseem Garden to Sohar. The remaining 85-km stretch from Sohar to Khatmat Malaha is handled by Turkish firm BOTEK. Construction of the balance 135km length of the expressway under Parson's remit will be tendered out in three packages, it is learnt.
When completed in around four years' time, the expressway will serve as a high-speed alternative to the Batinah Highway, which suffers a number of chokepoints especially where the blacktop cuts through major town centres. Designed as a limited access expressway on the lines of the motorways and autobahns of Europe, it will provide new impetus to the region's socio-economic development.
The 8th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) earmarks around RO 250 million for the implementation of the Batinah Expressway project in one of the biggest allocations towards road projects announced by the government earlier this year.
MUSCAT -- Well-known local and international construction firms are lining up to bid for a 45-stretch of the Batinah Expressway project, representing Package 1 of an ambitious plan by the government to build a new superhighway for passenger and goods traffic through the rapidly industrialising Batinah region.
Around 14 firms have so far signalled a desire to participate in a competitive tender for Package 1 of the project, estimated to cost RO 150 million. Companies that have purchased bid documents thus far are STFA, Simplex Infrastructures, Desert Line Projects, National United Engineering, Sarooj Construction, Galfar Engineering, Consolidated Contractors, Kayson al Omania, Federici-Stirling BATCO, Strabag Oman, Larsen & Toubro (Oman), Mapa Gunal Oman, Al Nahdah al Omaniah and Monte Adriano ME.
The 265-kilometre expressway has been conceived as a westward extension of the newly commissioned Muscat Expressway, which runs from Qurum to Naseem Garden (Muscat City limit). Aligned mostly in parallel with the existing Batinah Highway, the dual three-lane carriageway will hug the foothills of the Northern Hajar mountains as it travels all the way to Khatmat Malaha on Oman's border with the UAE.
Package 1 of the project currently out to tender comprises a 45-kilometre stretch that starts at Naseem Garden (city limit) and ends at Suwaiq. Designed and built to the international standards of an expressway, the blacktop will be integrated with the Batinah Highway via a series of interchanges and link roads.
In all, three grade-separated interchanges will be constructed as part of the Package 1 works.
Corresponding link roads connecting the expressway to the highway are currently under construction as part of a separate contract. However, the selected contractor will have to build a fourth link road connecting the expressway to the highway at Barka. A network of service roads leading to the surrounding neighbourhoods will be added as well.
In addition, the selected contractor will also construct a total of five overpasses at different locations across the expressway. A total of three wadi bridges will also be built, as will around 220 single and multi-cell reinforced concrete box culverts. Also included in the package is the construction of a median drainage system, dykes and embankment protections.
Well-known engineering consultant Parsons is the design and project management consultant for a 180-kilometre stretch of the expressway extending from Naseem Garden to Sohar. The remaining 85-km stretch from Sohar to Khatmat Malaha is handled by Turkish firm BOTEK. Construction of the balance 135km length of the expressway under Parson's remit will be tendered out in three packages, it is learnt.
When completed in around four years' time, the expressway will serve as a high-speed alternative to the Batinah Highway, which suffers a number of chokepoints especially where the blacktop cuts through major town centres. Designed as a limited access expressway on the lines of the motorways and autobahns of Europe, it will provide new impetus to the region's socio-economic development.
The 8th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) earmarks around RO 250 million for the implementation of the Batinah Expressway project in one of the biggest allocations towards road projects announced by the government earlier this year.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
