Atkins, a member of SNC-Lavalin, has been appointed as the lead consultant for Khazaen Economic City (KEC), a master development project in Oman, it has been announced.
It had previously been announced that the shortlist of contenders also included Parsons International, KEO International Consultants and and F&M Middle East Consulting Engineers.
According to a report in the Times of Oman, the consultancy has been appointed on a $6.7 million contract to oversee Khazaens master planning, design and supervision work. The scope of work includes full consultancy services for the integrated urban planning of the city, covering 5.15 million square metres, a detailed masterplan, environmental and sustainability assessments, and engineering designs for infrastructure and utilities.
In addition, Atkins will oversee the preparation and evaluation of construction tenders for various infrastructure works in the city. The scope of work also includes supervising the implementation of the first phase of Khazaens infrastructure.
We are delighted to appoint Atkins as the lead consultant for Khazaen. This is a demonstration of our approach of entering partnerships with global firms with a proven track record in delivering truly outstanding projects and also implementing true in country value,” said Kalat G. Al Bulooshi, chairman of KEC.
“Todays award of the contracts comes after months of in-depth evaluation and discussions with each of the shortlisted firms. Atkins will lead the concept master plan and detailed master plan work for the project, which is expected to take around six months to complete.
He added that the contract is for five years and that it can be extended for another two additional years, upon mutual agreement. The priority focus will be on completing the engineering and design work of an area of five million square metres, related to the first phase of the logistics and industrial area, the dry port, the truck terminal project, the central fruit and vegetables market and the central auto market, in addition to Khazaens head office.
It is a fantastic for us to be retained to assist Khazaen Economic City. This is an exciting time to be part of the realisation of such an important project in Omans economic expansion, and we are looking forward to bringing our projects expertise to this development, Marco Malpiedi, Atkins managing director for Oman, said.
He added that Atkins has expertise in delivering masterplans and site designs for a range of major industrial facilities across the GCC region, including Duqm City for Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm in Oman.
This announcement comes in the wake of Oman Investment Corporation (OIC) signing a shareholders agreement with Saudi Arabias Mohammed Ali Al Swailem Group (Masco) in March 2018 to set up KEC as a joint venture for the master development of Khazaen.
OIC owns the majority stake in the Omani-Saudi joint venture that is developing the new economic city in the northern South Al Batinah Governate.
Khazaen is described as the first and only integrated economic city within 60km of Omans capital, and the second integrated economic city in the Sultanate of Oman after the Special Economic Zone in Duqm. KEC has said that it will offer attractive investment opportunities to develop and set up warehousing, logistics, light and medium industries, large showrooms and markets, hotel, residential and commercial projects, and will provide a significant boost to economic development and job creation in Oman.
Atkins was previously appointed in 20116 to work on the first phase of developing the city of Duqm and help increase its population from 12,000 in 2010 to 100,000 over four years.
