A tender for Oman’s 2,244km-long national railway project has been issued by Oman Railway Company (ORC), inviting the local and international companies to place their applications for the project’s pre-qualification stage.
ORC’s pre-qualification tender covers infrastructure and information technology (IT) systems, while the qualified companies’ list will have a four-year validation period.
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The construction tender will be for the first 170km-long Sohar-Al Buraimi route part. Companies that qualify at this tender can also participate for the other stages, which link Salalah and A’Duqm ports with the GCC ports.
The completion of the pre-qualification stage will coincide with the conclusion of design of the Sohar-Al Buraimi route in August.
Companies that have been pre-qualified for infrastructure will participate in the execution tender and will be required to make use of the firms that qualified for the IT systems as subcontractors.
The Oman government recently signed agreements with Italferr SPA, Abu Taman Grant Thornton and Dar-al-Takween as part of the project.
Italferr SPA was selected to provide consultancy for the initial project design, Abu Taman Grant Thornton will provide consultancy service needed to develop the railway company’s organisational structure.
Dar-al-Takween will create a new brand identity and corporate image for the project, which is expected to be operational by 2018.
The Sultanate’s railway project is intended to integrate the marine, rail, land and air transport sectors to form an effective transportation system, while proving to be a sustainable source of growth for the Omani economy.
