The contracts, worth billions of dollars, include improvement projects at Muscat and Salalah airport facilities and construction of four airports – in Adam, Duqm, Sohar and Ras al Hadd. The new initiative follows 10 years of airport planning with an intention to detach the country from too much dependence on oil and gas revenues.
The new airport contract will also include a new $1.5 billion terminal at Muscat International Airport. The terminal will be designed to accommodate 12 million passengers a year. The facility will be gradually expanded in three phases to a capacity of 48 million passengers a year.
Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) and Oman’s ministry of transport have already awarded contracts for consulting and design work. The principal engineering consultant to the airports project is the COWI Group, in a joint venture with Larsen Architects. The international engineering and design company ADPI is appointed as the project manager. In 2010, contracts for about 400 buildings in Muscat and at the other airports will be awarded. The buildings include an air traffic control tower, a maintenance facility for Oman Air to be run by Lufthansa Technik, and the headquarters of the civil aviation department.
