Contractors are preparing to submit bids in June for a contract to build tunnels connecting the offshore elements of the Oxagon industrial city at Neom to the mainland.

The design-and-build contract involves digging a 6.5-metre-diameter tunnel using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) under the sea that will link the Neom Connector with the offshore elements of Oxagon port. It will house utilities including water pipelines, fibre optic cables and electricity cables.

Prospective bidders for the contract include:

• Abuljadayel Company (local)
• Bessac (France)
• Binladin Contracting (local)
• Daewoo (South Korea)
• Dogus (Turkey)
• Hassan Allam (Egypt)
• Petrojet (Egypt)
• Saudi Pan Kingdom Company (Sapac)
• Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company (China)
• Soletanche Bachy (France)

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Oxagon in late 2021. It will include onshore elements as well as floating structures offshore. Construction works on the 48 square-kilometre, eight-sided industrial city have already started.

Port construction

Work is also under way for the industrial city’s port, with Neom tendering a contract to complete the next phase of the Duba port expansion at Oxagon industrial city.

The prospective bidders are Belgium’s Deme with Greece’s Archirodon; Van Oord of the Netherlands with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction; a Belgian joint venture of Jan de Nul and Besix; Netherlands-based Boskalis with France’s Soletanche Bachy; and China Harbour Engineering Company.

The tender for the project’s second phase follows the award of a contract to deliver the first phase of the port expansion. A team of Boskalis, Besix and the local Modern Building Leaders (MBL) was awarded that estimated SR3bn ($800m) contract in mid-January.

The scope of the Duba port expansion package includes excavation and dredging, revetments for channel widening, demolition, container terminal quay expansion and earthworks, in addition to the development of a flexible quay, a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) berth and quay walls to a marine services berth and a coast guard facility.

Jacobs is the main design consultant with Moffatt & Nichol, IGO and Trent as the main subconsultants.

Port operations

Several crane and container equipment contracts have been awarded to Saudi Liebherr Company and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC).

Saudi Liebherr was awarded contracts for 10 mobile harbour cranes for SR200m.

ZPMC has been awarded contracts for 10 ship-to-shore gantry cranes, 30 electric rubber-tiered gantry cranes and six automated rail-mounted gantry cranes for over SR1bn. ZPMC will work with Siemens Europe to deliver the automation components. 

An expanded Duba port is a critical component of Oxagon and the broader Neom development, as it will allow greater volumes of materials to be imported for the project. With an expected investment value of $500bn, Neom is the largest programme of construction work in the world.

Neom says the first container terminal will be operational by the beginning of 2025.

The management of Duba port was transferred from national maritime regulator Mawani to Neom in 2022.