Latest News

• 
  Dewa announces new record for power reliability

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that it set a new world record for the lowest electricity customer minutes lost (CML), at 0.82 minutes a year in 2025.

  The figure is equivalent to about 49 seconds of annual outage per customer. It improves on the utility’s previous record of 0.94 minutes in 2024, a reduction of around 13%.

  Dewa said it has reduced CML in Dubai from 6.88 minutes a year in 2012 to 0.82 minutes in 2025, significantly lower than the average of about 15 minutes recorded by leading electricity utilities in the European Union.

  The smart grid is a central component of Dewa’s strategy to improve reliability and efficiency. The programme is being implemented with total investments of AED7bn up to 2035.

  One of the key initiatives of the programme is the Automatic Smart Grid Restoration System, which enables remote, round-the-clock control and monitoring.

  Dewa currently has tenders out for several power and water infrastructure projects in the emirate. These include at least four Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) water transmission pipeline projects.

  According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, Dewa awarded $1.1bn-worth of new power and water contracts in 2025. Contract awards had previously reached $2.6bn in 2024, and $4bn in 2024.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Riyadh tenders PMC deal for major sports arena

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  

   

  Saudi Arabia’s Sports Boulevard Foundation has tendered a contract inviting firms to bid for project management consultancy (PMC) services for the Global Sports Tower in the Athletics District of the Sports Boulevard development in Riyadh.

  The tender was issued on 8 April, with a bid submission deadline of 10 May.

  The 130-metre-tall Global Sports Tower will cover an area of 84,000 square metres and will include more than 30 sports facilities. The tower will feature the world’s tallest indoor climbing wall at 98 metres and a 250-metre running track.

  Earlier this week, MEED reported that the Sports Boulevard Foundation is preparing to award the main construction contract for the Global Sports Tower. MEED understands that bid evaluation has reached an advanced stage and the contract is likely to be awarded by the end of May.

  MEED reported in May last year that design work on the tower had been completed. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud approved the designs in 2024.

  The Sports Boulevard development runs across Riyadh from east to west and, once complete, is set to be the world’s longest park spanning more than 135 kilometres.

  The development will be spread across several districts, including Wadi Hanifah, Arts, Urban Wadi, Entertainment, Athletics and Eco, as well as Sands Sports Park.

  The large-scale project aims to transform central Riyadh – currently dominated by major highways – into a recreational corridor.

  Sports Boulevard, which will feature 4.4 million sq m of public realm and landmark buildings, will also be home to the Centre for Cinematic Arts and a 2,000-seat amphitheatre.

  The development will provide more than 2.3 million sq m of mixed-use commercial, residential, and retail assets, along with sports facilities around the park, known as Linear Park.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Contractors submit Saudi Arabia phosphate rail track bids

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  

   

  Saudi Arabian Railways (SAR) received bids from contractors on 27 April for a multibillion-riyal tender to double the tracks on the existing phosphate transport railway network connecting the Waad Al-Shamal mines to Ras Al-Khair in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

  The tender – covering the second section of the track-doubling works and spanning more than 150 kilometres (km) – was issued on 9 February.

  This follows SAR receiving bids on 1 February for the project’s first phase, which spans about 100km from the AZ1/Nariyah Yard to Ras Al-Khair.

  The scope includes track doubling, alignment modifications, new utility bridges, culvert widening and hydrological structures, as well as the conversion of the AZ1 siding into a mainline track. It also includes support for signalling and telecommunications systems.

  The tender notice was issued in late November.

  Switzerland-based engineering firm ARX is the project consultant.

  MEED understands that these two packages are the first of four that SAR is expected to tender for the phosphate railway line. Other packages anticipated to be tendered shortly include the depot and systems packages.

  In 2023, MEED reported that SAR was planning two projects to increase its freight capacity, including an estimated SR4.2bn ($1.1bn) project to install a second track along the North Train Freight Line and construct three new freight yards.

  Formerly known as the North-South Railway, the North Train is a 1,550km-long freight line running from the phosphate and bauxite mines in the far north of the kingdom to the Al-Baithah junction. There, it diverges into a line southward to Riyadh and a second line running east to downstream fertiliser production and alumina refining facilities at Ras Al-Khair on the Gulf coast.

  Adding a second track and the freight yards will significantly increase the network’s cargo-carrying capacity and facilitate increased industrial production. Project implementation is expected to take four years.

  State-owned SAR is also considering increasing the localisation of railway materials and equipment, including the construction of a cement sleeper manufacturing facility.

  

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Iraq sets up commission for $5bn pipeline project

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  Iraq is setting up a high-level commission to oversee the development of the planned $5bn Basra-Haditha crude oil pipeline project.

  The decision was made at a meeting held on 26 April, attended by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and the Minister of Petroleum Hayyan Abdul Ghani Al-Sawad, as well as other officials and consultants.

  The commission will be chaired by the undersecretary of the Oil Ministry and include advisers to the prime minister, along with director-generals from the Oil Ministry and the Industry & Minerals Ministry.

  Al-Sudani said the pipeline project will increase flexibility in transporting crude oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, as well as the Syrian port of Baniyas and Jordan’s port of Aqaba.

  The pipeline is also expected to strengthen supply to refineries in central and northern Iraq and support higher domestic refining output.

  The meeting also approved allocating $1.5bn to the project this year, with funding provided through the Iraq-China oil-for-infrastructure mechanism, according to a statement issued by the Petroleum Ministry.

  Earlier this month, Iraq’s Council of Ministers approved amendments allowing the Oil Ministry to directly invite specialised companies to bid for the 685-kilometre pipeline.

  The pipeline is expected to have a capacity of up to 2.25 million barrels a day.

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  Construction begins on Dubai Healthcare City projects

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA) has begun construction on Pixel DHCC and Ibn Sina+, two flagship developments in Dubai Healthcare City.

  Local contractor International Foundation Group has been appointed to carry out the enabling works.

  The two projects form part of Phase 1 of DHCA’s AED1.3bn ($354m) development programme and are scheduled for completion in November 2027.

  Pixel DHCC, designed by Hong Kong-based P&T Architects and Engineers, is planned as Dubai Healthcare City’s first LEED Platinum-certified office building. The nine-storey commercial development will cover 13,000 sq m.

  Ibn Sina+, designed by Dubai’s Design and Architecture Bureau, will be a five-storey medical complex spanning 5,800 sq m.

  — Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) April 27, 2026

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Bahrain extends bid deadline for 1.2GW Sitra IWPP

  Administrator

  30 April 2026

  

   

  Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) has extended the developer bidding deadline for the Sitra independent water and power plant (IWPP).

  The new deadline is 17 May. 

  The Sitra IWPP is a combined-cycle gas turbine plant expected to have a generation capacity of about 1,200MW of electricity.

  The project’s seawater reverse osmosis desalination facility will have a production capacity of 30 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

  It is the second deadline extension on the main works package since the tender was released in August 2025.

  Lebanon-headquartered Khatib & Alami was recently awarded a consulting contract for the project, worth $1.91m. This was despite the consultancy submitting only the third-lowest bid behind Spain’s Ayesa ($1.25m) and WSP Middle East Architectural & Engineering ($1.27m).

  EWA’s transaction advisory team for the project comprises KPMG Fakhro as the financial consultant and Trowers & Hamlins as the legal consultant.

  MEED previously reported that seven international companies and consortiums had prequalified to bid. These are:

  • Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa, UAE)
  • Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
  • China Energy Engineering Corporation / China Datang (Overseas Hong Kong, China)
  • Gulf Investment Corporation (Kuwait)
  • Jera (Japan)
  • Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco, South Korea)
  • Sumitomo Corporation (Japan)

  EWA first received statements of qualifications from nine interested firms in December 2024.

  The build-own-operate (BOO) project is being procured under a public-private partnership framework for 20-25 years.

  It is Bahrain’s fourth IWPP, replacing the previously planned Al-Dur 3. The Sitra IWPP is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2029.

  The project is in line with EWA’s plan to replace old plants with new, more efficient ones that reduce natural gas consumption.

  Procurement for the Sitra IWPP is advancing in parallel to other EWA initiatives, including the planned 60MIGD Al-Hidd independent water plant (IWP), for which two bids were submitted earlier this year.

  The contract to develop and operate the state’s first IWP remains under bid evaluation, a source said.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Bidders get more time for Jebel Ali sewage EPC contract

  Administrator

  29 April 2026

  

   

  Dubai Municipality has extended the deadline for contractors to submit bids for a contract covering the expansion of the Jebel Ali sewage treatment plant (STP) phases one and two.

  Contractors now have until June to submit offers, a source told MEED. Bidding had been expected to close on 30 April.

  The upgraded facility will be capable of treating an additional sewage flow of 100,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), with the expansion estimated to cost $300m.

  The scope includes the design, construction and commissioning of infrastructure and systems required to support the increased capacity.

  Located on a 670-hectare site in Jebel Ali, the original wastewater facility has a treatment capacity of about 675,000 cm/d following the completion of phase two in 2019, combining approximately 300,000 cm/d from phase one and 375,000 cm/d from phase two.

  The main element of the expansion involves modifications to the secondary treatment process at Jebel Ali STP phase two.

  UK-headquartered KPMG and UAE-based Tribe Infrastructure are serving as financial advisers on the project.

  Future expansion

  It is understood that the project is part of long-term plans to treat about 1.05 million cm/d once all future phases are completed.

  According to sources, this includes a Jebel Ali-based build-operate-transfer (BOT) project to be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

  It is understood that the prequalification process for this will begin in the coming months.

  In February, MEED exclusively revealed that the municipality is preparing to tender the main construction package for the Warsan STP by the end of the year.

  As MEED understands, the Warsan STP had previously been planned as a PPP project.

  The main package will now be procured as an engineering, procurement and construction contract, a source said.

  The project involves the construction of a sewage treatment plant with a capacity of about 175,000 cm/d, including treatment units, sludge handling systems and associated infrastructure.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  UAE’s departure from Opec marks a tectonic shift

  Administrator

  29 April 2026

  Commentary
  Indrajit Sen
  Oil & gas editor

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  The UAE’s decision to leave Opec and the Opec+ grouping marks a significant turning point in global oil markets and highlights shifting geopolitical dynamics and evolving supply expectations.

  The UAE announced it will leave the producer alliance effective 1 May, ending nearly six decades of membership. The move reflects a broader strategic shift, as the country seeks greater flexibility over its production policy amid rising capacity and changing market conditions.

  For oil markets, this is about more than one country wanting to pump more oil. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has spent billions of dollars over the years to raise crude production capacity to 5 million barrels a day.

  Opec+ quotas had increasingly looked as though they were stifling Abu Dhabi’s growing desire to maximise revenues by tapping into its expanded spare capacity. Leaving the Opec+ coalition gives Abu Dhabi more room to monetise those investments.

  The timing also matters. It comes against a backdrop of regional security concerns, tensions around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and a sense that consumers are once again being squeezed by high energy costs and depleted strategic reserves. 

  The immediate dip in the price of global benchmark Brent crude following the announcement of the UAE’s decision on 28 April showed the market’s first instinct: more UAE barrels could mean more supply and lower prices. However, the price rebound on 29 April, with Brent trading around $111 a barrel, also tells the other half of the story: extra capacity does not instantly become risk-free supply when regional bottlenecks and security threats remain front and centre.

  For Opec+, this is a blow to unity and to Saudi Arabia’s ability to marshal producer discipline. It does not mean that a price war will start tomorrow, but it raises the risk of other member states choosing to abandon the alliance’s cooperation mechanism and pursue a higher market share. In trading terms, this adds a new volatility premium: more potential supply, less cartel discipline and a Gulf energy landscape that looks significantly less predictable.

  The announcement comes at a time of heightened uncertainty in global energy markets, with geopolitical tensions, supply chain constraints and demand recovery trends all contributing to price volatility. The UAE’s exit is expected to reshape market expectations around supply flexibility and producer coordination.

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  Indrajit Sen