A decision on who would be constructing the new interchange project at Mina Salman is expected to be made this month, sources have said.

The Tender Board is now evaluating bids for the multi-million dinar project after it emerged last month that Bahrain's Haji Hassan Group was the lowest bidder at BD31.46 million ($83.4 million).

Sources told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) that normally the lowest bidder would get the project but the bids needed to be evaluated before a final decision was taken.

The GDN earlier reported the Bahraini contracting giant bid more than BD1 million cheaper than the BD32.77 million bid by Indian company Afcons Infrastructure, according to the Bahrain Tender Board website.

The project, a part of the Strategic Roads Master Plan, is expected to improve traffic flow in the area and spell the end to bottlenecks on one of the country's main arteries.

Work is expected to begin early next year after the tender, launched in August, is formally awarded.

The project is scheduled for completion by August 2013.

The completion of the project will also mean non-stop, high-speed access from King Fahad Causeway to the Khalifa bin Salman Port, a Works Ministry official said.-TradeArabia News Service