AS MANY AS 41 local and international construction companies are said to be eyeing an engineering, procurement and commissioning (EPC) contract worth $120 million to expand Salalah Port in Oman.

The project involves building a general cargo terminal and a liquids jetty at the port, according to a report in the Times of Oman newspaper. Capacity at the terminal will be increased to handle 40 million tonnes of dry bulk commodities and five million tonnes of liquid products per annum.

The liquids terminal will handle petrochemicals and other liquid products shipped into and out of the Salalah free zone located close to the port. The jetty will go on stream by the end of 2012 and will primarily serve the $900-million Salalah Methanol Company, which launched operations recently.

Other industrial investments that produce liquids or depend on liquid feedstock imports for their operations are also slated to come on stream at the free zone in the coming years, the report added.

The deadline for bids on the project, which had been extended by more than a month, expired on September 27.