A joint venture of Turkey's TAV and Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Co (CCC) has won a 450 million rial ($1.17 billion) contract to expand the main airport in Muscat, Oman, an executive said on Tuesday.

'We've won the contract as a joint venture with TAV (Turkey),' Zahi Saba, senior proposal leader at CCC in Muscat told Reuters.

'The contract should be announced by the client within the next few weeks and work should start thereafter.'    

Other firms prequalified for the contract included France's Vinci, India's Larsen & Toubro and local contractor Galfar Engineering.

The project will take about 32 months to complete.

Passenger traffic through Muscat airport, excluding those in transit, increased to about 3.2 million in 2008, up 18 percent from the previous year. - Reuters