UK-BASED consultant WSP has won a contract from international contractor J&P Overseas for the 45-km New Orbital Highway in Qatar. The project in south Doha involves the construction of dual five-lane highways and a two-lane truck highway as well as four major grade separated junctions. It will also have footpaths and lanes for cyclists.

KUWAIT is likely to start work on its much-delayed $20-billion metro project soon, reports said. The project will be built on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, the Emirates 24/7 website reported, adding that the first phase of the metro is expected to be completed by 2017.

A MAJOR strategic fuel storage facility will come into operation at Salalah Port, Oman, next year, reinforcing the port’s growing importance as a logistics hub on the Indian Ocean, an Oman Observer report said.

KUWAIT has signed contracts worth $17.5 billion this year, with a number of large-scale projects already under way and at the development stage, according to a report from the Oxford Business Group.

A BAHRAIN firm has won a contract to develop a huge industrial and logistics hub around the Suez Canal, Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said.

UK-BASED design, engineering and consulting firm Atkins has secured a contract worth £80 million ($135 million) for the multi-billion dollar Doha Metro project. “We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the role of lead designer for the Doha Metro Gold Line in Qatar,” said a company spokesman.

ASHGHAL, the public works authority of Qatar, has begun work on the fourth phase of development works on the C-Ring Road in Doha. The phase, when completed, will result in the conversion of roundabouts to signal-controlled intersections for improved traffic flow and reduced congestion, according to a report in The Peninsula.

Work begins on embassy project WORK has begun on the construction of a new embassy building for Bahrain in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The project is being undertaken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in co-operation with the Ministry of Works.

A TOTAL of 18 consortiums have been pre-qualified for civil works and another five consortiums for other works for the 2,244-km-long Oman national railway project.

THE Sumail Industrial Estate in Oman is in the final stages of evaluating bids for the construction of infrastructure facilities worth RO50 million ($129.85 million) at the site. The project involves construction of infrastructure facilities including roads and sewerage works.

WORK on a BD31-million ($81.7 million) cancer care unit, the first of its kind in the region, was set to start last month at the King Hamad University Hospital (KHUH) in Muharraq.

INFRASTRUCTURE projects worth more than BD15 million ($39.5 million) are underway at Bahrain’s main hospital. The schemes at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) include a BD5.6-million ($14.85 million) multi-storey car park, a BD6-million ($15.91 million) power station, a BD4-million ($10.

HILL International, a global leader in managing construction risk, has won a project management contract from the Oman’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications for the construction of Sections One and Two of the Bidbid Sur Road in Oman. The three-year contract has an estimated value of approximately RO1.5 million ($4 million).

BAHRAIN has approved 674 new infrastructure projects worth BD640 million ($1.6 billion) this year, it was revealed. The projects are part of plans for major urban development with improved sustainable infrastructure, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News.

DUQM Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company has issued a tender to lay the groundwork for the construction of its new refinery at the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (Sezad).

OMAN’S Ministry of Transport and Communications has floated another package of tenders (Package Eight) for constructing the ambitious Al Batinah Expressway project. According to the Tender Board, the tender documents were expected to be distributed until August 28 and the tenders will be opened on September 22.

THE King Fahad Causeway Authority has signed a SR168-million ($44.7 million) contract for the operation, maintenance and complete testing of the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

JORDAN’S Ministry of Water and Irrigation plans to build a new $45-million wastewater pipeline to transport sewage from Zarqa Governorate and parts of Amman to the Al Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, said a report. The new pipeline will be set up next to an existing conveyor that was built 30 years ago, said the Jordan Times report.