Libya Herald reports that an $31-million contract to improve and upgrade infrastructure and utilities in the eastern town of Cyrene is being extended by the local authority, with its value set to more than double.
Italian firm Ravanelli said the specifics of the contract were still under discussion but that it anticipated the project having a value in excess of $78 million.
The contract, with the Cyrene Housing and Infrastructure Board (HIB), is for projects including drainage systems, telephone ducting, roads, pavements and street lighting.
Preparatory work is already underway, and the Cyrene local authority has made an area within a former military barracks available as a base for Ravanelli. The firm said that a construction yard was being established, along with administrative offices, dormitories for employees, a dining hall, a workshop and storage areas for materials.
Ravanelli has been working in Libya since 2008, after winning an LD 195 million contract for similar infrastructure construction work in Tobruk. One of the first Italian companies to return to work after the revolution, Ravanelli restarted its activities in Libya in August 2012.
In October 2012 Ravanelli signed the LD 40 million contract for works in Cyrene and, more recently, has acquired two further contracts in Tobruk, for LD 4.5 million and LD 28 million respectively.
(Source: Libya Herald)