Oman’s major Al Batinah Expressway project is to cost around $2.6bn and will be completed in 11 packages, according to an official from the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
The contract for the third package of the project will be awarded “very soon,” the official said.
“Packages 4, 5 and 6 are in tender currently and are expected to be awarded by early next year,” he said on the sidelines of the Oman Transport Infrastructure Summit. 
Last month, the ministry floated a tender inviting bids from project consultancy firms for managing the 265km road that extends Muscat Expressway road all the way to the Oman-UAE border at Khatmat Malaha.
The second package, which covers the section of road from Suwaiq to Shinas,was awarded to a consortium of Malaysia’s WCT Berhad and Oman Roads Engineering Company.
US-based consultants Parsons International designed the first and second section of the carriageway, which together account for a 180km section, while Turkey’s Bosphorous Technical Consulting Corporation (Botek) provided consultancy services for the remaining 85km stretch of the road project.
