Companies chasing the high-profile contract to build the Louvre Abu Dhabi have been given an extra three months to submit their tenders.
Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) is building the museum as part of its Dh99 billion (US$26.95bn) Saadiyat Island development. "Due to the magnitude and importance of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project, TDIC has taken the decision to extend the tender process until 30 October," it said, adding that the move followed requests from bidders for "additional time to prepare fully compliant submissions".
About 12 contractors are thought to be vying for the project, including Besix, which helped to build Dubai's Burj Khalifa, Lebanon's Arabian Construction Company, Abu Dhabi's Al Jaber LEGT Engineering and Contracting, Australia's Brookfield Multiplex, Al Habtoor Leighton Group in partnership with South Africa's Murray and Roberts and Japan's Taisei Corporation.
This is the second time TDIC has pushed back the tender deadline, after the original submission date of July 1 was extended to last Sunday. The extension will not affect the delivery schedule of the museum, which is due to be completed in September 2012, with the opening one year later, TDIC said.
Designed by Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning French architect, the 24,000 square metre complex is part of Saadiyat Island's Cultural District. The district, which is expected to be completed in 2013, will also include the Zayed National Museum, the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a performing arts centre and a maritime museum.
The main construction contract for the Louvre Abu Dhabi was originally expected to be awarded by the end of last year.
However, the master developer altered those plans after it changed the format to cut costs.
Although the TDIC would not confirm the cost of building the museum, it is expected to be less than Dh3bn because construction costs have dropped about 30 per cent in the past two years.
Bauer International, the German construction company, started piling works in May.
agiuffrida@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Mane 51', Salah 53'
Chelsea 0
Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950