The tenders floated by Omran, Oman’s governmental tourism development company, for phase II works on the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC) project will expire in on the 18th June.
The winner of the main contract will build the 22,000m2 column-free exhibition hall, divisible into five separate exhibition spaces. The first two halls will feature a ‘superior fit out’ with theatre seating for 10,000.
“We have substantially completed enabling works, which is phase one of the project. Phase two is the exhibition halls, car park and energy centre (power plant),” said Abdul Wahid Al Farsi, VP of corporate affairs at Omran, to Muscat Daily.
The construction of the exhibition halls is expected to be completed in 2014, with other facilities emerging in 2015. The ground was formally broken on the project in January.
The total exhibition floor space will reach 25,000m2, excluding the additional 3,000m2 auditorium and banquet hall and 6,000m2 of meeting and conference facilities. Other linked facilities include a business park with 85,000m2 of office space and four hotels totaling 1,000 rooms.
The tenders are being contested by a number a well known entities including Galfar Engineering and Construction, Taylor Woodrow Towell, Carillion Alawi, Strabag Oman, Al Habtoor Leighton and Oman Shapoorji, Douglas OHI and Consolidated Contracting Company.
The tendering process could take up to eight months as bids are assessed and scrutinized by both Omran and the tender board, said Al Farsi.
Progress is already well underway on the $7m Phase I, the site preparation of the project, with grading and levelling works completed and the construction of internal roads and offices ongoing.
OCEC manager AEG Ogden has identified 2,500 conventions that have the potential to come to Oman, with a view to securing business up to 2024.
