Tendering for Jordan desert highway project

The tender process is commencing for a major desert highway upgrade project in Jordan. The US$170 million tender process is being organised by Jordan's Ministry of Public Works. The project is for the rebuilding and upgrading of the 220km road running from Queen Alia International Airport to the Maan Governorate. The work will be completely rebuilt in six stages each of 30-35km. The work on these stages will take an estimated 18 months each. The project is being funded with a $105 million soft loan and a $65 million grant from the 2818 Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

The highway is of major importance to Jordan as it is the main road connection from Amman to the southern region. Once the work has been completed, the revamped desert highway will improve connections from Jordan’s capital to the southern region, including the port of Aqaba. This route has also seen increased traffic since the closure of the Syrian border. And there is an additional need for the upgrade on safety grounds also as the route has seen a series of crashes and fatalities in recent years.