Related Articles

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  Jordan allows phosphate rail line bidders more time

  30 January 2026

  

   

  Abu Dhabi’s National Infrastructure Construction Company (NICC), a subsidiary of Etihad Rail, has allowed contractors until 15 February to submit their proposals for a contract to build the second section of the phosphate railway line that will run from Ghor Al-Safi to Aqaba in Jordan.

  The tender was issued on 27 December, with an initial bid submission deadline of the end of January.

  The scope of work for the railway includes civil engineering, tunnel construction, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works.

  Tendering is also ongoing for the first section of the line. NICC is preparing to award the contract for the first section of the railway line, stretching from Al-Shidiya to Aqaba.

  MEED understands that the evaluation is in its final stages and that the contract will be awarded soon.

  In April last year, a French-Swiss joint venture of Egis and Arx was awarded the design consultancy contract for the project.

  Etihad Rail announced in September 2024 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $2.3bn with Jordan’s Transport Ministry and local companies to develop the phosphate railway line.

  In an official statement, Etihad Rail said it had signed an agreement with Jordan to build, operate and maintain the project.

  The statement added that additional MoUs were signed with Jordan Phosphate Mines Company and Arab Potash Company to transport 16 million tonnes a year of phosphate and potash from mining sites to the Port of Aqaba via the Jordanian railway network.

  The MoUs also cover the manufacture and supply of rolling stock; the construction of terminals in Aqaba, Ghor Al-Safi and Shidiya; and the maintenance, repair and operation of the railway line. 

  Project history

  In 2015, Jordan’s Transport Ministry tendered a contract to construct the Shidiya rail link, intended to transport 6 million tonnes a year of phosphate from mines in Shidiya to Wadi Al-Yutum, near Aqaba.

  In November of that year, a joint venture of China Communications Construction Company and the local contractor Masar United was confirmed as the lowest bidder. It was awaiting the formal award to build the 21-kilometre spur line.

  The project was subsequently put on hold due to funding issues.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Algeria plans Constantine tramway extension

  30 January 2026

  

   

  Algeria is planning another extension of its Constantine tramway network, which currently runs from Ben Abdelmalek Stadium in the city centre to the Ali Mendjeli area.

  The project client, Algiers Metro Company (EMA), received bids on 14 December last year from consultants for a tender to undertake feasibility and detailed preliminary design studies for the project.

  The client had tendered the contract in October.

  The current tramway network spans approximately 19.3 kilometres (km).

  The tramway is owned by EMA and operated by Societe d’Exploitation des Tramways (Setram), a joint venture of EMA and French firm RATP Group.

  The first route of the tramway, with a length of 9km, was commissioned in July 2013, according to GlobalData’s sister company, Railway Technology.

  The expansion phase began in July 2015 and was completed in June 2019, increasing total ridership to over 30,000 passengers a day.

  The initial 9km-long section of the Constantine tramway system runs from the Zouaghi terminal to the Ben-Abdelmalek Stadium station through the old town and the university area.

  The route includes 11 stations, three of which are multimodal, two viaducts measuring 465m and 114m long, and an underpass.

  A 65,000-square-metre ground-level depot serves the fleet for maintenance and train parking.

  The Ben-Abdelmalek Stadium was renovated as part of the project to accommodate the line's passage.

  Contractors involved 

  EMA awarded a contract for the tramway line extension to France’s Alstom and the local firm Cosider Travaux Publics consortium in July 2015.

  Spanish firm Idom was awarded the detailed design and construction works management, while US-based engineering firm Aecom was responsible for civil engineering and urban planning.

  Cital, a joint venture of EMA, Spain’s Ferrovial and Alstom, delivered 24 trainsets to open the first phase of the extension in 2019.

  The company also maintains 51 trainsets and the infrastructure of the Constantine tramway.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Dewa desalination plans offer timely boost

  30 January 2026

  Commentary
  Mark Dowdall
  Power & water editor

  Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) is taking early steps towards procuring its second independent water producer (IWP) project, a signal that the utility may be further expanding its role from service provider to long-term utility asset developer.

  Consultancy bids were received this week for a pre-feasibility study that will assess capacity and location requirements for a planned seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant.

  The project, being pursued with Etihad Water & Electricity (EtihadWE), would build on the 180-million-imperial-gallons-a-day Hassyan IWP, awarded to Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power in 2024.

  It would also align with Dewa’s wider objective to lift Dubai’s desalination capacity to 750 million imperial gallons a day by 2030, from around 495 million today. Achieving that target may require a further pipeline of privately developed water assets between now and then.

  A useful point of comparison lies in Saudi Arabia’s power sector. Saudi Electricity Company has increasingly relied on independent power producers over the past decade to accelerate capacity expansion, ease pressure on public capital spending and deepen the project finance ecosystem.

  For regional developers, competition in Saudi Arabia’s water market continues to intensify. In December, Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) prequalified 50 developers to bid for five upcoming IWPs and 63 developers for independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) projects.

  Unlike Saudi Arabia, the UAE entered 2026 with limited visible momentum in desalination. EtihadWE’s $400m Fujairah SWRO IWP is the only large desalination plant expected to be tendered this year.

  In a crowded market, increased activity by Dubai’s utility would provide a welcome boost.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Projects show resilience in 2026

  30 January 2026

  

   

  While priorities may have shifted over the past two years, the region’s projects market continues to display resilience and will offer opportunities in 2026 in areas including Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects progamme, regional rail schemes and other strategic sectors.

  Despite much having been written over the past two years about the reprioritisation of Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects, work is continuing. 

  “They are still going, all the gigaprojects,” says Pierre Santoni, president – infrastructure for Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) at US-based Parsons. 

  “Even Neom, where the slowdown has been widely publicised, we still have people there working on Oxagon, and we still have people on the Line. All the other ones are still ongoing,” he adds. “We just signed a contract to design all the infrastructure around the Mukaab for New Murabba. We have live tenders and are designing the public realm for Diriyah Gate 2. We are on Sports Boulevard, King Salman Park and the expansion of King Abdullah Financial District. All of those are ongoing.”

  Another focus for the region is rail. Parsons led the Riyadh Metro Transit Consultants joint venture that project managed the first six lines of Riyadh Metro, which opened in late 2024. 

  “Riyadh Metro was a great success for Parsons and our partners, and all the people involved. That was the original gigaproject. At one point, there were 50,000 workers on Riyadh Metro every day,” says Santoni.

  The success of this project, and of earlier schemes such as Dubai Metro and Doha Metro, combined with high-level governmental backing, have given the rail sector in the region unprecedented momentum. 

  “Rail is a major market in the region at the moment,” says Santoni. “The UAE is a good example – you have the freight railway and the opening of passenger traffic. The high-speed rail project has also started. In Abu Dhabi, the tram on Yas Island was launched last year. In Dubai, the Blue Line is in full construction mode with delivery firmly scheduled for 2029. It is a major undertaking, and the intention of the Roads & Transport Authority is to continue with further extensions, which is much needed given the growth in population.”

  Roads and airports are two other areas of focus for Parsons. The company continues to work as the lead consultant for major road schemes in the UAE, and it secured delivery partner roles in 2025 for the airside and landside infrastructure at Riyadh’s King Salman International airport.

  Operations and maintenance 

  The infrastructure market is not just about building new projects. As the region’s infrastructure ages, operations and maintenance (O&M) has become a central pillar of Parsons’ strategy, Santoni notes.

  “The game is not just about building new infrastructure; it’s about making existing infrastructure perform better,” he says. 

  “A lot of O&M considerations are coming to the forefront. We are deploying technology like iNET, which is Parsons’ proprietary intelligent traffic management system. We did the initial feasibility study last year and managed to improve transit times through 320 intersections in Riyadh. We just signed a contract to fully deploy the system. 

  The game is not just about building new infrastructure; it’s about making existing infrastructure perform better

  “It’s not just physical infrastructure; it’s the management of all that through technology-enabled tools.” 

  Santoni says this technological “brain” is also being applied to the King Salman Park project, which involves developing the world’s largest urban park and requires a highly complex O&M system to manage it effectively. Automated management of soil and water for hundreds of plant species will remove the need for a vast on-site workforce.

  Traditionally known for core engineering and transport, Parsons is increasingly recognised for work in other sectors, including hospitality and defence. The firm is currently managing over 30,000 luxury hotel keys in the region, a surge driven by Saudi Arabia’s tourism goals.

  “We became recognised, sort of unknowingly, for these complex, niche-type hospitality projects where it’s about preserving heritage and respecting culture, but doing so in the most modern and technologically advanced way possible. This is going to be a very nice market for us in the future,” Santoni says. 

  “We also signed two major contracts last year for confidential defence clients in Saudi Arabia to deliver infrastructure.”

  Capacity crunch

  As the industry faces a talent shortage, Santoni highlights Parsons’ internal mobility as a competitive advantage. While competitors have struggled with project transitions, Parsons has focused on relocating staff to sustain its growth.

  “We did see a lot of people either exiting Saudi Arabia or relocating within,” Santoni says. “We have been very good at relocating people. This is one of our strengths. When projects changed pace, we made a conscious effort to relocate people, give them options and extend them on the job until something else came up. Last year alone, about 350 people were relocated internally within the region. We are still in hiring mode.”

  Being a multidisciplinary firm present in several countries gives flexibility. “In Saudi Arabia, most of Parsons’ work has traditionally been project management consultancy (PMC), although we have had for a number of years now a growing design office in Riyadh with an offshoot in Dammam and one in Jeddah. 

  “We currently have almost 300 people in our design office in Saudi Arabia, which is slightly less than 10% of our workforce in the kingdom. The rest are doing PMC work. In Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, it’s mostly the more traditional model of design and construction supervision work with some PMC,” says Santoni. 

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  Colin Foreman
• 
  Chinese contractor appointed for Oman wind IPP

  29 January 2026

  

   

  China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) Shanxi Institue has won the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the 125MW Dhofar 2 wind independent power project (IPP) in Oman.

  The main construction includes the design, equipment procurement, construction, commissioning and after-sales services for the wind farm.

  The contract also comprises the construction of a new 400kV substation and a 3.7-kilometre-long transmission line.

  In November, state offtaker Nama Power & Water Procurement Company (Nama PWP) awarded the developer's contract to Singapore's Sembcorp Utilities and local firm OQ Alternative Energy (OQAE) under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

  Under the PPA, Sembcorp and OQAE will build, own and operate the wind farm, which will supply power to Nama PWP once operational.

  As MEED previously reported, Sembcorp will have 75% equity in the project and OQAE will own the remaining 25%.

  The project is expected to begin commercial operations in the third quarter of 2027.

  In October, CEEC, through its subsidiaries, signed EPC contracts for three major renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia with a total capacity of 5GW.

  The agreements cover the 1GW Shaqra wind power project, the 2GW Starah wind power project and the 2GW Khulis solar photovoltaic project.

  The Dhofar 2 IPP is valued at about OR43m ($112m) and will be located on a 12-square-kilometre site in Dhofar Governorate.

  The project comprises 20 Windey WD200 turbines, each with a 6.25MW capacity. Each turbine stands 215 metres tall and will be connected to the national grid with a 400kV substation.

  The development will provide clean electricity to more than 18,000 homes and will cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 158,000 tonnes a year.

  Sembcorp has over 1.1GW of energy assets in Oman. In September, the firm signed a new 10-year power and water purchase agreement with Nama PWP for its Salalah independent water and power plant.

  According to Nama PWP, the offtaker has contracted 26 water and desalination plants, exceeding $11bn in investment, over the past 15 years.

  Chief energy transition officer at Nama PWP, Abdullah Bin Rashid Al-Sawafi, said the company "plans to attract a further $5bn over the next five years, mainly in renewable energy and storage technologies".

  This includes an extra 9GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, representing 60% of total contracted capacity.

  Oman aims to have 30% of its electricity generation from renewable sources by the same year.

  ---

  READ THE JANUARY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

  Saudi Arabia courts real estate investment; EVs and battery production are key regional tech themes; Muscat holds a steady growth course despite headwinds

  Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the January 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

  > AGENDA: Saudi real estate to surge in 2026 > CITYSCAPE:  Investors focus on residential sector for new deals > TECH TRENDS: Key technology themes poised to shape 2026  > EVs: Middle East drives electric vehicle revolution > BATTERIES: Batteries shape the region's energy future > LEADERSHIP: Saudi Arabia accelerates its rail revolution  > INTERVIEW: Tabreed finishes the year on a high > CONTRACTORS: Managing risk in the GCC construction market > ECONOMIC ACTIVITY INDEX: UAE and Qatar emerge as markets to watch > AIRSHOW: Top deals signed at Dubai Airshow 2025 > MARKET FOCUS: Oman steadies growth with strategic restraint

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

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  Mark Dowdall