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Oman invites 9 firms to bid for dry port ops

MUSCAT, November 1, 2015

Oman has invited a total of nine logistics companies to submit firm bids or a licence to operate and manage the nation’s first dry port in South Al Batinah, a report said.

The invitation-to-bid was issued to the prequalified parties recently, Ahmed al Azkawi, project manager of the South Al Batinah Logistics Area (Sabla) was quoted in the Oman Observer report.

A contract award is likely before the end of the first quarter of 2016, he noted.

The successful bidder will secure a licence for the long-term lease and operation of an inland port facility that will form the centrepiece of the ambitious South Al Batinah Logistics Area (Sabla) development, the report said.

The scheme, covering an area of 95 sq km, is proposed to come up at the intersection of the Barka-Nakhl Road and the Muscat-Batinah Expressway route, it added.

A number of tenders linked to the development of Block A, a three-sq-km area, as well as other infrastructure facilities, will be floated before the end of this year, he said.

Included are tenders for the construction of Block A itself, an internal road network, a flood protection dyke to secure the entire area from flash floods, and a major road interchange designed to facilitate traffic flows into the logistics zone from the Sohar Port and Muscat ends.

In addition to a dry port, complete with an Inland Container Depot (ICD), Block A will also host all manner of open and covered warehouses, a boulevard doubling as a commercial centre, and an area earmarked for commercial offices.

Also planned in Block A are the headquarters of Oman Logistics Company (OLCo), the newly established, wholly government-owned entity that will oversee the development of the Sabla project.

As a logistics hub driven by long-term objectives, the Sabla master-plan also incorporates a plan for a logistics institute, the scope and management of which is yet to be finalised, said Al Azkawi.




Tags: Bidding | Sabla |

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