US firm confirmed for $108m Oman airport deals

Oman confirmed on Monday that US-based Hill International has taken over a OR41.8m ($108.5m) contract related to the expansion of two airports in the sultanate.

Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, said Hill would be in charge of consultancy services and the supervision works for Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport projects.

The company, which will begin work on January 1, will replace the previous consultant whose contract has expired, Oman News Agency reported.

Al-Futaisi said Hill will oversee the revising the designs, adding that all staff had been transferred from the previous contract to Hill.

He said he expected the projects to be completed as planned by the end of 2014.

When the expansion of Muscat and Salalah is completed in 2014, the airports will be capable of handling 12m and 2m passengers per year respectively.

New Jersey-based Hill International has also worked on aviation projects in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and a number of airports in the US.

Projects supervised by Hill in the Middle East region, mainly in aviation, infrastructure and construction, are valued at $68bn.