Canada's biggest engineering company, SNC-Lavalin Group said it has been awarded a contract to design, engineer and manage the construction of a new city in Algeria that will house 80,000 people.

The contract could be worth as much as 312 million euros ($440 million), according to an Algerian media report.

A company spokeswoman said SNC would not confirm the amount of the contract until it was signed, which should happen within a few weeks. She said the information in the Algerian media report seemed to be correct.

"La Ville Nouvelle de Hassi Messaoud" is expected to be constructed over 96 months at a cost of $6 billion, according to the media report. It will comprise an area of 4,483 hectares and will be a hub for oil companies operating at nearby oil fields, the report said.

The existing town of Hassi Messaoud, which means "blessed well" in Arabic, is in east-central Algeria and adjacent to a major oil field of the same name.-Reuters