Dubai to tender metro extension in fourth quarter
28 April 2023

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Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is expected to issue tender documents for the expansion of Dubai Metro in the fourth quarter of the year.
Known as the Blue Line, the scheme will extend the existing Red and Green lines.
The Green Line extension will commence from its current terminus at Creek station in the Jadaf area. It will cross over to the Dubai Creek Harbour development and continue through Ras al-Khor, International City, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Academic City before concluding near the Desert Rose project. The line will have 11 stations.
The Red Line extension will connect its existing terminus in Rashidiya to Mirdif City Centre and continue through Mirdif and Warqaa before joining the Green Line extension in International City.
The project was put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic and reactivated in early 2022, when UK-based Atkins and Grimshaw, US-based Parsons and France’s Egis restarted design work.
MEED reported in October 2022 that groups interested in bidding for the project had started to form. They included France’s Alstom with Spain’s FCC and Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation; Germany’s Siemens with India’s Larsen & Toubro, the local Alec and Belgium’s Besix; and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) with China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
Two billion commuters
Since its public launch on 9 September 2009, the number of riders who have used the Dubai Metro network has exceeded two billion, according to the RTA.
The Red Line has transported 1.342 billion commuters, while the Green Line has served 673.531 million passengers.
In 2022, the average daily ridership on the Dubai Metro exceeded 616,000 riders.
The extension is part of Dubai’s plans to improve residents' quality of life by cutting journey times as outlined in its newly approved 20-minute city policy.
The last metro project to be completed in Dubai was Route 2020, which connected the Red Line to the Dubai Expo site. The AED10.6bn ($2.9bn) contract to design and build the line was awarded to a consortium of Alstom, Spain’s Acciona and Turkiye’s Gulermak.
Dubai Metro has also significantly impacted the real estate market, particularly properties within a 15-minute walking distance from metro stations. According to a recent report by CBRE, these properties tend to outperform the broader real estate market in terms of both property value and rental performance.
Further extensions are expected to create new business opportunities for businesses and residents alike.
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Veolia wins Jordan water services contract18 February 2026
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Under the contract, Veolia will provide operations, maintenance and management services to Yarmouk Water Company, the public utility responsible for water supply and wastewater services in the region.
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The scope includes water and wastewater operations, maintenance, billing and collection, and customer service.
According to the firm, the performance-based structure prioritises measurable improvements, including service delivery, cost efficiency and revenue management.
The company said it will deploy technical and management specialists to support operations, rehabilitation works and investment initiatives.
The contract builds on Veolia’s existing operational role in Jordan’s water sector. The company operates the Disi-Amman scheme, which supplies about 100 million cubic metres of drinking water a year, under an operations and maintenance contract.
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PIF-backed firm signs worker accommodation deal17 February 2026
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Saudi Arabia's Smart Accommodation for Residential Complexes Company (Sarcc) has signed an agreement with Riyadh-based Mawref Company to develop a 12,000-bed worker accommodation project in North Riyadh.
The project will cover about 120,000 square metres (sq m), with a total built-up area of 150,000 sq m.
The development is expected to cost over SR669m ($178m), with the first phase slated for completion in 2029.
Sarcc is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle.
The agreement follows Sarcc signing another agreement in September last year with privately-owned local firm Tamimi Global Company to explore collaboration in developing worker accommodation facilities in the kingdom.
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The company will seek opportunities to invest in the sector to strengthen staff housing standards. Sarcc will also look to engage the private sector by enabling investment and partnership opportunities in sectors including construction, catering, transportation and retail.
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KBR wins 10-year maintenance contract from Petro Rabigh17 February 2026
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Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company (Petro Rabigh) has awarded US-based consultant KBR a 10-year contract to provide maintenance services covering the company’s polymer plants in Rabigh, on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
“This [contract award] marks a major step in Petro Rabigh’s transformation journey, supporting safer operations, stronger reliability and long-term improvement across its facilities,” Petro Rabigh said in , without providing further details.
Work on the operations and maintenance contract will be executed by KBR’s business line, which operates under the Houston-headquartered firm’s Technology Solutions portfolio, sources told MEED.
Prior to this contract, in March 2024, Petro Rabigh awarded KBR a similar five-year asset condition monitoring programme contract. As part of that job, KBR is to provide predictive maintenance services at Petro Rabigh’s main plant.
Petro Rabigh was originally established in 1989 as a basic topping refinery with crude oil processing facilities, located in Rabigh, 165 kilometres to the north of Jeddah in Mecca Province.
Saudi Aramco and Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Company formed an equal joint venture in 2005 to transform the Petro Rabigh crude oil refining complex into an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, with the strategic objective of expanding Saudi Arabia’s annual production capacity of refined products and petrochemicals.
Three years after the creation of the Petro Rabigh joint venture, the partners floated 25% of its shares in an initial public offering on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in 2008, following which Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical each held 37.5% shares in Petro Rabigh, with the remaining shares listing on the Tadawul.
In October last year, however, Aramco completed the acquisition of an additional 22.5% stake in Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo Chemical. Following the completion of the transaction, valued at $702m or SR7 a share, Aramco became the majority shareholder in Petro Rabigh, with an equity stake of 60%, while Sumitomo retains an interest of 15%. The remaining 25% shares of Petro Rabigh continue to trade on the Tadawul.
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Following the formation of the Petro Rabigh joint venture in 2005, Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical launched the expansion of the refining facility into an integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in 2006, investing $9.8bn in the project, 60% of which was secured through external financing. Engineering, procurement and construction works on phase one were completed in 2009, with the integrated downstream complex entering operations in November of that year.
The Petro Rabigh downstream complex consists of a topping refinery that has a 340,000 barrel-a-day (b/d) crude distillation unit, a 47,000 b/d hydrotreater, a 12 million cubic-feet-a-day hydrogen plant, a 75,000 b/d naphtha merox unit and a 60,000 b/d kerosene merox unit, along with supporting utilities, product tankage and a marine terminal.
Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical initiated Petro Rabigh’s phase two expansion project, valued at $8bn, in 2014. The second expansion phase was commissioned in 2018 and added 15 chemicals plants to the Petro Rabigh complex, raising the facility’s total production capacity to 18.4 million tonnes a year (t/y) of petroleum-based products.
The expansion also increased Petro Rabigh’s capacity to process an additional 30 million cubic feet a year of ethane into 2.4 million t/y of ethylene and propylene-based derivatives, and achieved a naphtha output of 3 million t/y.
Expansion of the main existing chemicals plant and the establishment of a clean fuels complex comprising polyether polyols, naphtha treating and sulphur recovery units were also part of the phase two project.
Photo credit: Petro Rabigh on LinkedIn
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Bidders await NWC decision on sewage contract17 February 2026

Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) is evaluating five bids for package 12 of its long-term operations and maintenance (LTOM12) sewage treatment programme.
Known as the North Western B Cluster, LTOM12 forms part of the second phase of NWC’s rehabilitation of sewage treatment plants programme.
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Lamprell wins Dubai’s Margham gas plant expansion contract17 February 2026
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Dubai Petroleum has awarded Lamprell a contract for a project covering the expansion of the Margham gas storage and processing facility, which is operated by state-owned Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup).
Lamprell’s scope of work on the contract includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of civil works, pipe rack structures and associated infrastructure installation. Work on the contract will be delivered by Lamprell’s onshore division.
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