Tenders for $4bn Saudi-Egypt causeway this year

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GAP: the $4bn causeway will link Ras Humaid to Sharm el-Sheikh. The Qatar-Bahrain project is also reported to be going ahead.

Bids for the causeway which will link Saudi Arabia to Egypt are expected to be invited by the end of this year.

The 21km causeway will be implemented as a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract and is estimated to be worth around US $4 billion (SR15 billion).

The project that was announced last year was later dismissed by the Egyptian government, but was again flagged up at Meed's Arabian Construction Summit in Abu Dhabi last month.

The causeway will link Ras Humaid in the northern Saudi region of Tabuk to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and will pass through Tiran Island at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Speaking at the conference, Mohamed Ali, regional director, Cowi said that the project was still under discussion with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

A source close to the Qatar-Bahrain causeway also said that this project was definitely going to go ahead, although a few ‘issues' surrounding the contract had to be ironed out before work on the project could begin.

The source said: "It could be another two years before bids for the main construction contract are invited for this causeway, which could cost anywhere between $8 billion to $13 billion. We've only just finished the concept design."

Qatar is on an accelerated drive to build bridges and causeways with neighbouring GCC states including Bahrain and maybe even the UAE, in order to become more accessible by road to these countries.

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