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Aseer-Jizan highway is a test case for Gulf infrastructure PPPs

19 September 2025

Commentary
Yasir Iqbal
Construction writer

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The start of tendering for the Aseer-Jizan highway public-private patnership (PPP) is a watershed moment in the Gulf region's approach to infrastructure. For decades, the major highways in the GCC have been delivered in the same way: government-funded, government-managed, with little appetite for risk-sharing.

This project breaks that mould. Aiming to be the first full-concession transport PPP in the region, it hands the private partner responsibility for design, construction, financing, operations and maintenance. This is a major step forward.

According to industry experts, the move signals that Saudi Arabia, and by extension the GCC, is ready to treat private investors as partners rather than contractors. The PPP models in social infrastructure have been useful experiments, but this case, where the private sector is taking on long-term risks, demonstrates the market’s growing maturity.

This raises the bar for private involvement and brings the model closer to precedents seen in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

However, there are still unknowns: the offtaker is new to the PPP market, and that adds uncertainty. But for investors, the prestige of being associated with Saudi Arabia’s first highway concession has its own appeal. As long as the payment guarantees are firm, the risk may be worth the reward. 

If the project is executed well, it will set the standard for a new pipeline of road, airport and rail schemes. It will also deliver confidence, both for investors, who want predictable frameworks, and for governments, which want to stretch budgets without compromising delivery.

The wider GCC will study the Aseer-Jizan highway PPP carefully. The concession is the first test case that could pave the way for the region's investment-driven infrastructure developments.

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Yasir Iqbal

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