Thirty one firms registered with Oman Tender Board to seek prequalification to participate in Design, Build and Operate (DBO) contract of the Diba-Lima-Khasab road project.

The project is a new arterial carriageway featuring a series of massive road and wadi bridges, as well as some of Oman's longest tunnels. The 65km stretch is being overseen by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The project includes the construction of as many as seven tunnels aggregating a total length of 7.320 kilometres. The largest is a 2.2-kilometre-long tunnel.

The project is estimated to cost in the range of $1 billion.

A request for qualifications (RfQ) garnered expressions of interest from a total of 31 local and international companies. Signalling their interest in bidding for the project are Daewoo Engineering & Construction, CCC, Yuksal Construction, SEW Infra, STFA, Makyol, Toto, Sinohydro, Mapa Gunal Oman, Galfar Engineering & Construction, Orascon, Oman Shapoorji, Perlite Oman, Ozkar Construction, Hyundai Construction, Impregilo, Wade Adams, VINCI, NUEC, Afcons Infrastructure, L&T (Oman), China Railway, China Road & Bridge, China Railway Construction, China Communications, China State Constructions, Hochtief, Akkord, and Federici Stirling Batco, among others.

They were among a total of 72 companies that had collected tender documents.

Also envisaged en route are a total of 18 wadi and valley bridges extending a total distance of 3.790 kilometres. The longest of these bridges is 420 metres. In addition, two major interchange bridges will be built at key intersections along the route. Furthermore, as the first Design, Build and Operate (DBO) contract, the selected contractor will also be required to operate and maintain all assets linked to the venture for a 20-year period.

By adding an 'Operation & Maintenance (O&M)' component to the procurement strategy, the government hopes to attract qualified contractors with proven experience in the operation of road tunnels.

Engineering consultant COWI is advising the Ministry in the preliminary design and supervision of the project.