Abu Dhabi's TDIC set to award Louvre contract

Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC) is in the final stages of reviewing construction tenders for the delayed Louvre Abu Dhabi museum and will announce the successful bidder within the next 12 weeks, a spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

“Tendering the main contract works for the Louvre Abu Dhabi is in progress, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum is due to open in 2015. This contract will be awarded before the end of 2012,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

State-owned TDIC launched its search for a contractor to work on the spin-off of the famous Paris museum in March.

The Louvre is the first of several high-profile projects, including a branch of the Guggenheim, planned for the $27bn Saadiyat Island development. Its future was called into question when TDIC scrapped a major construction contract in October.

The TDIC said in January that the Louvre Abu Dhabi would now open in 2015 while Abu Dhabi's branch of New York's Guggenheim, will open in 2017. It also said the Zayed National Museum will open in 2016. All the three museums were originally scheduled to open between 2013 and 2014.

Dubai-based firm Drake & Scull International announced in April it planned to bid for the project. “We are trying to pre-qualify at the moment, we will be bidding,” CEO Khaldoun Tabari said in an interview with Bloomberg.