Foreign firms eye $200 mln Oman airport project

The firms bidding for new airport in Oman include India's Larsen & Toubro, South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries and Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction, an official said on Wednesday.

The tender board official said other companies bidding for the Duqm airport project, which is expected to be worth up to $200 million, include France's Thales , India's Dodsal, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Co and Turkey's Makyol.

"We received the bids for the approximately $200 million dollar contract for the Duqm airport for the construction of the airfield and infrastructural projects," the official told Reuters.

Last month Economy Minister Ahmed Mekki told Reuters that the Gulf Arab state was going ahead with a $1.8 billion port project at Duqm as part of its development plan despite the global downturn and expected lower oil income.

Duqm, which will be the site of Oman's second international airport, is also earmarked for other major projects, including a refinery, a shipyard and tourism resorts.

Oman plans to diversify its economy away from oil income dependency, which makes up about 75 percent of state revenue, and is pursuing a number of large-scale infrastructure projects.

Source: in.reuters.com