The airport’s terminal is to be almost doubled to around 86,000 sq m and will have a capacity of 6.5 million passengers a year.
“We are fully poised to launch the ambitious project within a couple of months,” OAMC chief executive officer Colin Hobbs said.
OAMC shareholders are investing more than RO64 million over the next five years to turn Seeb airport into a full-fledged 21st century international airport to meet the need of the hour.
“The plan to expand and develop the main airport, which is in the Muscat province, will go a long way in boosting tourism” in the country, Hobbs added.

WCT wins $49m highway project
Manama: Malaysian construction firm WCT Engineering has won a $49.7 million contract to build a 25 km-highway link to Durrat Al Bahrain, a report stated.
The firm and its partner Cebarco Bahrain have received a letter of intent from the government of Bahrain, said a spokesman for the firm.
Work on the link, to start this month, will take two years to finish, he added.

$400m Disi water project cleared
Jordan: A Saudi Oger-led consortium has concluded the technical and financial assessments of the JD284.5 million ($400 million) Disi water project in Jordan with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and Ministry of Agriculture.
The project, which involves construction of a 320-km conveyance pipeline, a main pumping station and three storage wells, is expected to solve the kingdom’s water crisis and will supply 80 to 100 million cm of drinking water annually from 65 wells around the ancient Disi aquifer in the south for a minimum of 100 years.
The project is partly funded by the government with $200 million and will be on a 40-year-build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. It will nearly double Amman’s drinking water supply.

Bids due for Kuwait retail complex
Kuwait: The Mabani Group is expected to receive bids shortly for its KD29.4 million ($100 million) The Avenue – a 200,000 sq m retail development to be located on the fifth ring road in Kuwait.
The bidders are all local companies, including: Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Company, Al Ahlia Contracting Group and Mohamed Abdulmohsin Kharafi and Sons.

Bids invited for airport expansion
Manama: Consultants have been invited to submit their prequalification bids for the Bahrain International Airport terminal building extension (Phase 5) project.
The works include the provision of some 40,000 sq m of building floor area and ancillary facilities. The extension of the existing terminal building will include additional airbridges and the associated support facilities to complement the existing operations. The projects will also include the construction of ancillary aircraft parking bays. The works are expected to be completed in a span of four years.
The prequalification process is open to international firms/associations/joint ventures who have adequate experience in carrying out works of similar scope and nature.
The client is the Ministry of Works and Housing acting through the Construction Projects Directorate.

Hidd works prequalification sought
Manama: Contractors have been invited to pre-qualify for the infrastructure works at the Khalifa bin Salman Port and industrial area at Hidd in Bahrain. The port infrastructure works comprise earthworks, pavement construction, drainage, water supply, electrical and other services for the 110 hectares port and associated access causeway for which the reclamation works are currently in progress.

LG bags $181m plant deal
Muscat: South Korea’s LG International and LG Engineering has landed a RO70-million ($181.9 million) contract to build a polypropylene plant in Oman.
“LG International with LG Engineering and Contracting has received the RO70 million contract to build the plant,” said Mohammed bin Benayoune, chief executive officer of Oman Polypropylene Company.
He said construction of the 340,000 tonnes per year project, to come up in the northeastern part of the sultanate would be completed by September 2006.

Return of bids sought by NPC
Assaluyeh: Prequalified contractors have been requested by National Petrochemical Company (NPC) to return bids by mid-June for its cracker project to be built at the Olefins 11 complex in Assaluyeh, Iran.
The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts will be tendered by NPC project management subsidiary Petrochemical Industries Development Management Company (Pidmco).
Olefins 11 will comprise an ethane cracker with capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year (tpy), a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant with capacity of 300,000 tpy, a linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant with capacity of 300,000 tpy, a styrene monomer plant with capacity of 600,000 tpy and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant with capacity of 700,000 tpy.