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Contractors take on more work in 2025

30 April 2025

 

Contractors in the region have increased their orderbooks in the past year as the GCC’s key construction markets – Saudi Arabia and the UAE – have continued to award major contracts. 

In Saudi Arabia, the rate of growth has not matched that experienced in 2023-24, which suggests that the market is reaching saturation at time when client bodies are assessing their future spending plans.

In the UAE, the value of projects that contractors are working on has increased significantly, which reflects the start of public works schemes such as the Dubai Metro, as well as the ongoing boom in real estate, which has allowed developers to start work on an array of new building projects.

Top performers

Based on data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the GCC’s most active contractor is Saudi Arabia’s Nesma & Partners, with $13.9bn of work at the execution stage. While it remains the top-ranked contractor, the total value of projects it has at the execution stage has dropped from the $15bn total it had in 2024.

While Nesma & Partners remains the top-ranked contractor in 2025, the total value of projects it has at the execution stage has dropped

In 2024, Nesma was ahead of the second-ranked contractor by $5bn – Italy’s Webuild had $10bn of projects under execution last year. This year, the contractor in second place, Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation, is just $300m behind Nesma with $13.5bn. China State has grown strongly over the past five years, as it has expanded its presence in Saudi Arabia significantly and is now the second-ranked contractor in the kingdom. 

Turkiye’s Limak, which is in third position, is also close behind with $12.9bn of projects under execution. Limak has added the Dubai Metro Blue Line project to its existing work on Kuwait International airport.

There are five other Saudi firms in the top 10, which reflects the kingdom’s status as the region’s largest construction market, and the ambition and scale of its infrastructure spending and gigaprojects programme. 

The other Saudi contractors in the top 10 are Almabani in fourth place with $8.5bn of projects; Shibh Al-Jazira, which also has $8.5bn of projects, in fifth; and El-Seif Engineering Contracting in sixth with $8.3bn of projects under execution. 

Al-Bawani then follows in eighth position with $7.3bn of projects, and Saudi Binladin Group rounds out the top 10 with $6.5bn of projects in 10th place.

The other contractors in the top 10 are Abu Dhabi-headquartered Trojan General Contracting, which is in seventh place with $8bn of projects, and Dubai-based Alec, which has secured ninth place in the ranking with $6.8bn of work at the execution stage, spilt between its home market in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Alec is reportedly considering an initial public offering, which is another sign of how well the construction sector is performing in 2025.

Bahrain

The top two contractors in Bahrain’s ranking in 2025 remain the same. China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) retains the top spot with $700m of work at the execution phase. The Chinese contractor’s work centres on building residential units at East Sitra for the Housing & Urban Planning Ministry. In July 2024, it signed a deal to build 1,269 houses for the third phase of the scheme.

The third phase adds to the project’s second phase, which has 531 units and was handed over in early 2024. The first phase, which has 1,077 units, has also been handed over. The housing ministry signed a BD260m ($689.9m) deal with CMEC for the construction of more than 3,000 housing units at East Sitra in December 2019.

Al-Hamad Building Contracting remains the second-ranked contractor. Its largest project is the longstanding Villamar residential complex at Bahrain Financial Harbour in Manama for Gulf Holding Company.

Grnata joins the top 10 in third position. Its largest ongoing project is the Golden Gate Towers scheme in Manama for the Grnata Group, which involves the construction of two towers, one with 45 and the other with 53 storeys, that together will have a total of 746 apartments.

Grnata edges out Nass Contracting, which was in third place in 2024. Nass drops down the ranking despite two high-profile contract awards. In May 2024, its joint venture with Nassir Hazza & Bros won a BD37.2m contract for the construction works on package three of the Busaiteen Link scheme for the Works Ministry.

Nass also won a $45m contract in June 2024 for the expansion of the campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain in the Al-Sayh area of Muharraq Governorate.

Kuwait

For the second year running, Turkiye’s Limak Holding has strengthened its position at the top of Kuwait’s ranking. The contractor has $6.1bn of construction work at the execution stage, according to MEED Projects. This is about $500m more than the $5.6bn it had in 2024.

In October 2024, Limak was one of the contractors that secured work as part of more than KD400m ($1.3bn) of road maintenance works contracts that were awarded by the Public Works Ministry to 18 local and international companies.

The road work adds to Limak’s ongoing works at Kuwait International airport. In 2023, it secured a contract for package three of the expansion of Terminal 2, which covers the construction of aircraft parking aprons, taxiways and service buildings.

China Gezhouba Group Corporation is in second position. In March this year, it won two contracts worth over $557m from Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare for the South Saad Al-Abdullah residential project in Al-Jahra Governorate.

China Gezhouba Group Corporation’s rise to second place shifts Shapoorji Pallonji into third place. The Indian contractor is working on two healthcare projects and one education scheme in a joint venture with the local Al-Sager General Trading & Contracting, which is also working on $1.4bn of projects at the execution stage.

Oman

The local Galfar Engineering & Contracting topped Oman’s 2024 ranking with $900m of work at the execution stage. In 2025, there are seven contractors in Oman that have more than $900m of construction work under execution, which reflects an increased level of projects activity across the sultanate. 

Galfar remains the top-ranked contractor in 2025 with $2.5bn of work at the execution phase. 

Last year, as part of a consortium with Abu Dhabi-based National Projects Construction, National Infrastructure Construction Company and Tristar Engineering & Construction, it won an estimated $1.5bn design-and-build contract for the Hafeet Railway project connecting the sultanate with the UAE. It also won a $119.5m contract from the Transport, Communication & Information Technology Ministry for the dualisation of the road connecting the city of Nizwa and the nearby town of Izki.

The overall uptick in projects activity in Oman has meant that the 10th-ranked contractor in 2025 has $500m of work at the execution stage compared to just $200m for the 10th-ranked contractor in 2024. 

Qatar

UCC Holding leads the Qatar ranking in 2025. The local firm was ranked the fifth most active contractor in 2024 with $1.2bn of projects at the execution stage. That total has increased to $1.3bn this year, and with the Qatar construction market remaining subdued after the Fifa World Cup in 2022, it is enough to take UCC to the top of the ranking. 

The contractor’s main ongoing projects are part of the country’s public-private partnership schools scheme. Earlier this year, it signed an estimated $330m deal covering the design, build and maintenance of 14 schools in several areas of Qatar.

UCC Holding also has two major road schemes under execution for the Public Works Authority (Ashghal). UCC is in a joint venture with Infraroad Trading & Contracting Company for both projects. 

The first contract, valued at $170m, covers the construction of the roads and infrastructure works in Al-Mearad and southwest of Muaither. The other, valued at $150m, covers the construction of roads and infrastructure works in the Al-Kharaitiyat and Izghawa areas of Doha.

UCC replaces Turkiye’s TAV Construction and the local Midmac Contracting Company, which jointly held the top ranking position in 2024 with $1.4bn of projects at the execution phase thanks to the terminal expansion programme at Hamad International airport. 

The expansion, which has added 51,000 square metres of space to the airport, including eight new gates, opened in February this year.

Saudi Arabia

There was an expectation in 2024 that Saudi Arabia’s contractor ranking would be transformed in 2025 as development activity accelerated on projects across the kingdom. 

While activity in the kingdom continues, the pace of awards has levelled off as the government and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) have begun to prioritise projects. This drive to rationalise the projects market can be seen in the contractor ranking for 2025. 

Like last year, Nesma tops the list, with $13.9bn of work at the execution stage. This total is less than the $14.7bn of projects that the local contractor had in 2024. 

China State Construction Engineering Company is in second with $9.3bn of projects under execution. The Beijing-based contractor has risen up the ranking from 10th place last year, when it had $3.9bn of projects under execution.

The largest new contract that the firm has secured in the past year is a $3bn scheme to deliver 2,000 housing units for the National Housing Company at several locations in the kingdom. 

China State is joined in the top 10 in 2025 by another Chinese contractor: China Harbour Engineering Corporation, which is in 10th place with $5.6bn of work. One of its recent wins was in June last year, when it secured an $800m contract in joint venture with Al-Ayuni Investment & Contracting for the construction works on the second southern ring road in Riyadh.

China Harbour replaces Greece’s Archirodon, which has dropped out of the Saudi top 10 in 2025. The other contractors in the 2025 top 10 ranking remain from 2024. 

UAE

There is no change at the top of the UAE contractor ranking, as Abu Dhabi-based Trojan General Contracting once again leads in 2025. The firm has $7.2bn of projects under execution this year, compared to $6.2bn in 2024.

There have been significant changes to the companies making up the rest of the ranking, however, and to the value of projects that contractors have under execution. This reflects a shift in the market in 2024, as government-backed infrastructure projects moved into construction. 

In 2024, the second-ranked contractor was Abu Dhabi-based National Marine Dredging Company with $3.1bn of projects under execution – a total that would not even make the top 10 in 2025. This year, it is the fifth-ranked contractor, with $4.7bn-worth of projects.

In 2025, the second-ranked contractor is Turkiye’s Mapa with $6bn of projects – thanks largely to a contract it secured in December 2024 for the Blue Line extension of Dubai Metro. Mapa is joined by China’s CRRC Corporation in third place and Turkiye’s Limak in fourth, which are also working on the Blue Line project. 

Abu Dhabi-headquartered Arabian Construction Company is the sixth-ranked contractor with $4.5bn. The firm, which specialises in high-end building projects, returns to the top 10 amid reports that it is planning to list on the stock market with an initial public offering.

The other contractors in the UAE’s top 10 listing are Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation, India’s Sobha, UK-headquartered Innovo and the local Alec. 

Alec has dropped from fourth position in 2024 to 10th this year, despite increasing the value of projects under execution from $2.6bn to $3.3bn, which reflects how much contractors’ orderbooks have filled up over the past year.

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Colin Foreman

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