Related Articles

• 
  Levant states wrestle regional pressures

  1 July 2025

  Commentary
  John Bambridge
  Analysis editor

  The Levant countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are all in various degrees of distress, and collectively represent the Israel-Palestine-adjacent geography most severely impacted by that conflict, including in the latest phase initiated by Israel’s attack on Iran. In all three cases, however, recent developments have provided tentative hope for the improvement of their political and economic situations in 2025.

  In the case of Lebanon, still reeling from Israel’s invasion and occupation of the country’s southern territories in retaliation for Hezbollah’s missile attacks on northern Israeli cities, the hope has come in the form of the country’s first elected president since 2022, and a new prime minister. 

  The task before both leaders is to stabilise a deeply fragile political and economic situation while avoiding further degradation to Lebanon’s weakened state capacity. If the country can ride through present circumstances to the upcoming parliamentary elections in May 2026, the possibility could also emerge for a more comprehensive shake-up of its stagnant politics.

  In civil war-wracked Syria, the toppling of the Bashar Al-Assad government in December and the swift takeover by forces loyal to Ahmed Al-Sharaa have heralded a political transition – even if it is not the secular one that Syria’s population might have once hoped for. 

  The new president has already made progress in reaching agreements for the rollback of EU and US sanctions and an influx of foreign investment that his predecessor could only have dreamt of securing. This opens the door to a future of economic recovery for the country.

  The reopening and reconstruction of the Syrian economy also has the potential to benefit the entire region, by rebooting trade and providing growth opportunities.

  For Jordan, the recent conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories has hit tourism hard, while also pitching the country’s anti-Israel street against its US-allied government. Washington’s threats to cut aid and to raise tariffs on Jordan have added to the political strain on the country, and this has only been staved off by in-person overtures by King Abdullah II to the US government. 

  The outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran has only worsened the economic climate for Jordan, with both Israeli jets and Iranian munitions frequenting Jordanian airspace and providing a constant reminder of how close the country is to being dragged into regional unrest. Yet Jordan has avoided conflict to date, and the country’s GDP growth is expected to rise modestly in 2025 as an increase in exports and projects activity stimulates the economy, despite the wider regional headwinds.

  The overall picture for this region is therefore one of tentative recovery from recent shocks, ripe with potential for a better path forward as the Levant rebuilds and works together to overcome the challenges that have so long afflicted the region.

  

   

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  MEED’s July 2025 report on the Levant includes:

  > COMMENT: Levant states wrestle regional pressures

  JORDAN
  > ECONOMY: Jordan economy nears inflection point
  > GAS: Jordan pushes ahead with gas plans 
  > POWER & WATER: Record-breaking year for Jordan’s water sector
  > CONSTRUCTION: PPP schemes to drive Jordan construction
  > DATABANK: Jordan’s economy holds pace, for now

  LEBANON
  > ECONOMY: Lebanon’s outlook remains fraught

  SYRIA
  > RECONSTRUCTION: Who will fund Syria’s $1tn rebuild?

  To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

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  John Bambridge
• 
  Jordan’s economy holds pace, for now

  1 July 2025

  Download the PDF

  

  ---

  MEED’s July 2025 report on the Levant includes:

  > COMMENT: Levant states wrestle regional pressures

  JORDAN
  > ECONOMY: Jordan economy nears inflection point
  > GAS: Jordan pushes ahead with gas plans 
  > POWER & WATER: Record-breaking year for Jordan’s water sector
  > CONSTRUCTION: PPP schemes to drive Jordan construction
  > DATABANK: Jordan’s economy holds pace, for now

  LEBANON
  > ECONOMY: Lebanon’s outlook remains fraught

  SYRIA
  > RECONSTRUCTION: Who will fund Syria’s $1tn rebuild?

  To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14177596/main.gif

  MEED Editorial
• 
  NCP seeks firms for Mecca mixed-use development PPP

  1 July 2025

  Saudi Arabia’s National Centre for Privatisation & PPP (NCP), in collaboration with the Holy Makkah Municipality and the Ministry of Municipalities & Housing, has issued an expression of interest (EoI) and request for qualification notice for the development of a mixed-use project along Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Road in Mecca.

  The EoI notice was issued on 26 June, with a submission deadline of 27 July.

  The development includes a shopping mall, a 200-bed long-term care facility and a 100-bed multi-speciality hospital.

  According to an official notice, the project will be located on a government-owned site spanning about 220,000 square metres  (sq m) and will offer direct access to the Holy Mosque while bypassing the congestion of Mecca’s city centre.

  The public-private partnership (PPP) project will be delivered using a build, own, operate, transfer contract with a 30-year term. Upon completion of the contract term, the project will be transferred to the Holy Makkah Municipality.

  This announcement follows the launch of the EoI notice for the development of the King Fahd suburb boulevard project in Dammam.

  Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipalities & Housing issued the notice in collaboration with Ashraq Development Company and the NCP.

  The project features a 4 kilometre (km) mixed-use zone along a central boulevard, forming part of a larger 7.3km corridor.

  The project will be developed in two phases and span about 1 million sq m.

  Saudi PPP market

  The value of PPP contracts in Saudi Arabia has risen sharply over the past two years as the government seeks to develop projects through the private sector and diversify funding sources.

  According to MEED Projects data, in 2023, the value of PPP concession contracts hit an all-time high of $28.2bn, equivalent to more than 23% of the total value of all project contracts awarded that year. Although that figure fell to 18.3% last year, it was still far higher than the historical average in the kingdom.

  

  The figures are even starker when taking only government spending into account. In 2023, the value of signed PPP contracts totalled more than a third of the value of government or government-related projects awarded in 2023 and more than a quarter last year. This is compared to the average of 15.6% between 2019 and 2022, and just 3.5% recorded in 2018. 

  Government contracts include awards made by ministries, municipalities and royal commissions, in addition to state-funded key project clients such as Saudi Water Authority, the National Housing Company and Jeddah Airports Company. Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiaries such as Neom, the National Water Company and Rua Al-Madinah are also included.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Iraq downstream contract completed

  1 July 2025

  

   

  Turkiye’s Tekfen has completed a contract as part of the Basra refinery upgrade project, according to industry sources.

  The contract was worth $25m and the scope included upgrading civil structures and underground facilities.

  The contract is part of the wider Basra refinery upgrade project, which is worth several billion dollars.

  Its scope includes installing new facilities, including a vacuum distillation unit and a diesel desulphurisation unit, on land adjacent to the existing Basra refinery.

  The biggest package is focused on upgrading the project’s fluid catalyst cracking (FCC) unit.

  Iraq’s state-owned South Refineries Company (SRC) sent Japan-based JGC a notice of the main contract award for the Basra refinery upgrade project’s FCC package in August 2020.

  The contract awarded to JGC, which uses the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning model, was worth $3.78bn.

  The project site is located about 12 kilometres east of Iraq’s southern city of Basra.

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  June 2025: Data drives regional projects

  30 June 2025

  Click here to download the PDF

  Includes: Top 10 Global Contractors | Brent Spot Price | Construction output

  To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

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  MEED Editorial