L&T Oman lands $93.1m Sohar Airport contract

L&T Oman, a unit of the Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro, has landed a contract to build a new passenger terminal at Sohar Airport.

The company announced the award of a $93.1 million contract to build a new regional airport in the Sultanate last week, but did not name the location.

However, it is understood to be for Sohar Airport, as it corresponds with an award recently made by Oman’s Tender Board for the third phase of construction at the airport. Bids for the project were initially submitted by contractors in September 2014.

Tender Board documents show that L&T Oman’s initial bid of $89.7m was considerably lower than that of almost $118m from its nearest bidder, Carillon Alawi.

Higher bids were also submitted by the Omani subsidiaries of Cypriot contractor Joannou & Paraskevaides and Austrian builder Strabag.

Larsen & Toubro said that the work would include building a new passenger terminal, an air traffic control complex, cargo and service buildings and all mechanical, electrical and plumbing works.

“The project is scheduled to be completed in 24 months,” the statement said. The passenger terminal will have a capacity to handle 500,000 people a year.

The first two packages of work at Sohar Airport were completed last year. These covered civil and infrastructure works including a runway, taxiways, service roads, power plants, fuel depots and a firefighting system. Nobody from Larsen & Toubro’s Oman office was available for comment.

The project is the third airport that will be built by L&T Oman under a programme of infrastructure investment in which the sultanate has spent billions on new facilities as part of its plan to boost tourism. The company built the new Salalah International Airport alongside joint venture partner Galfar Engineering & Contracting under a $764m contract. It opened in mid-2015 after a two-year delay and has a capacity to handle two million passengers, although this could eventually be upgraded to six million.

L&T Oman also won a $94m contract to build a similar-sized airport to Sohar in Duqm city last year.

Oman announced this month that it would cut spending more than 15 per cent this year as it attempts to readjust to a prolonged environment of lower oil prices.

It set a budget of 11.9bn Omani rials (Dh113.5), compared with 14.1bn rials last year.