Sites finalised for six new integrated fuel stations along Batinah Expressway

Muscat: Six new sites have been allocated for setting up integrated fuel stations along the Batinah Expressway, the Ministry of Housing has announced.
The new fuel stations will be built on either side of the Expressway in Barka, Saham and Liwa through a public bidding. Each station will be built over 30,000 square metres and will include a mosque, a shopping centre, car service centre, hotel and restaurant.
The new stations, to be built 50km apart, will aim to provide basic services to road users, as well as to activate economic and tourist movement along the expressway.
The ministry had allocated two sites in the Al Uqdah area of Barka, two in Al Rawdah area of Saham and two in Liwa Al Jadeedah area in the wilayat of Liwa.
The ministry said a bidding committee had been formed with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the Supreme Council for Planning to determine the price for each site. The bidding will be announced in the coming period for the sites in the wilayats of Barka and Liwa first.
To ensure bidders were serious, the ministry said it had set conditions that implementation of the project would be time-bound and of high quality, according to approved specifications.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications opened the Al Batinah Expressway for traffic on May 7. It is the largest road project in the history of the Sultanate.
With a length of 270km, the Expressway starts at the end of the Muscat Highway in Halban and ends at Khatmat Milaha in the wilayat of Shinas in the Governorate of North Al Batinah.
Al Batinah Expressway has been built according to the highest international standards. It has four traffic lanes in each direction, with a total width of 75.3 metres.
Each lane has three metres of external asphalt shoulders, two metres of internal width, 23 interchanges, 17 overhead bridges and 12 ground passes for vehicles.
The Expressway connects three governorates, Muscat, North and South Al Batinah, through several wilayats (Barka, Nakhal, Al Masanah, Wadi Al Ma’awil, Al Awabi, A’Rustaq, A’Suwaiq, Al Khabourah, Sohar, Liwa, and Shinas).