The local website The National reported today the following:

Abu Dhabi's Department of Transport (DoT) is expected to award a deal for the largest PPP road project of its kind ever undertaken in the country - the widening of a motorway running from the capital to the Saudi border - by mid-September, contractors say.

They quote a senior executive at a construction company of Macquarie's consortium:

"They said they would award it by mid-September," said a senior executive at a construction company that is part of a consortium including Abu Dhabi's Al Jaber Group, Australia's Macquarie Capital Group, Belgium's Six Construct and Brazil's Odebrecht.

A technical manager at Strabag also comments the following:"I believe the evaluation of the technical proposals took some time and they're now evaluating the commercial bids," said Michael Wolf, a technical manager at Strabag. "It's a major project and one that will take time."Remember that the following consortia were qualified for the final round of the project:CCCC-MTD consortium which consists of:1- China Communications Construction Company (Lead) - China2- MTD Capital Bhd - Malaysia3- Ghantoot Transport - UAEIRTIBAAT consortium which consists of:1- Macquarie Capital group Limited (Lead) - Australia2- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC - UAE3- Al Jaber Transport & General Contracting LLC - UAE4- N.V. Besix SA - Belgium5- Mouchel Middle East Limited - UAE6- Transfield Services International Pty Ltd - Australia7- Odebrecht - BrazilMafraq Motorway Group (MMG) consortium which consists of:1- Strabag Societas Europaea (Lead) - Austria2- Joannou & Paraskevaides (Over Seas) Ltd - UK3- J&P Avax S.A. - Greece4- Saif Bin Darvish - UAE5- Egis Projects SA - FranceContractors had hoped to be informed of the outcome three or four months ago, the executive said. It is unclear why the contract has been delayed but a spokesman for the DOT said it would be awarded this year. He declined to give further details.August 9th 2010. Update.According to AMEInfo.comThe Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi today announced that the preferred bidder for the Mafraq-Ghweifat Highway PPP Project is expected to be named for negotiations in the third quarter of 2010This website also reports the following:

In his comments, Engineer Khaled Mohamed Hashem, Executive Director of Land Transport at DoT, said:

"The bid proposals from the international consortia are under study, as per the set deadline. We will take into account the best offer, extending industry-best innovation to the private sector and consistent with our project guidelines. This approach illustrates our Department's vision of creating a world-class, sustainable transport network incorporating the latest technologies and techniques."

Nothing really new but I guess that seeing that everyone is talking about the project and about the two consortia being excluded of the final stage they wanted to clarify that they are on the issue.Update. December 21st 2010.The Abu Dhabi Department of Transport (ADDOT) has recommended to award the $2.65 billion Mafraq-Ghweifat road PPP to the Strabag-led consortium, Mafraq Motorway Group, as it has been first-ranked bidder.Follow us on twitter!Take care!