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Contractors line up for more Neom tunnels

23 February 2023

Contractors are competing for contracts to build more tunnels at the $500bn Neom development in Saudi Arabia.

Companies are preparing to submit bids in March for more tunnelling work on the Spine, which is the infrastructure corridor running below the 170-kilometre-long series of 500-metre-tall mirrored buildings known as The Line, running from the Red Sea coast inland towards Tabuk.

The cut and cover tunnels have been split into various packages that involve the fabrication of precast sections, excavation work and the installation of tunnel segments.

Each package requires a significant volume of work. One contract, known as package A, involves 90 million cubic metres of backfill, 22 million cubic metres of concrete and the installation of 364,000 precast units.

Another contract, known as package B, involves civil work and the fabrication of precast units.

Neom awarded contracts for constructing the mountain tunnel sections of The Line in June. The drill and blast works are split into four packages, with two contracting teams winning two packages each.

One joint-venture team is Spain’s FCC with the local Shibh al-Jazira Contracting Company (Sajco) and Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The other joint venture is Greece’s Archirodon with South Korean contractors Samsung C&T and Hyundai Engineering & Construction.

Beijing-based China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) was awarded a contract in 2021 for the adits and portals package serving the bored tunnels.

Tendering is also expected to start soon for two more tunnelling packages connecting the Spine to the Connector South that runs from the Oxagon industrial city development to The Line.

Contractors have submitted expressions of interest for two design and build contracts on the project, which is known as the Delta Junction. The work covers five twin-track tunnels that are more than 26 kilometres long. Some tunnels will be mined, while other sections will be cut and cover.

There are also tunnels planned at the Trojena mountain resort that will host the Winter Asian Games in 2029. One of these tunnels, known as the Time Travel tunnel, will have a funicular railway. The others will be used for transporting supplies up to the mountain resort during the construction period and then later during its operations.

Contractors have also been invited to tender for packages related to the tunnelling works, including the provision of tunnel boring machines.

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Colin Foreman

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