Field report: Riyadh
5 May 2023
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Contracts worth over $2.7bn have been awarded in Riyadh Province so far this year.
MEED field researchers visited Riyadh in mid-April to monitor the progress on construction projects including Diriyah Gate, King Salman International Park and Riyadh Sports Boulevard.
The team also called in on two of Saudi Entertainment Ventures' (Seven's) entertainment complexes and several National Housing Company housing schemes, among other projects.
At the Diriyah Gate project, construction works are progressing on the digital arts centre Diriyah Art Futures and Heritage Five Star hotel in Samhan district.
MEED researchers were able to get visuals of Diriyah Gate's now-completed restaurant complex, Bujairi Terrace.
Opened in December 2022, Bujairi Terrace comprises 21 restaurants over a 15,000 square-metre area
Elsewhere, construction works have started on the Ministry of Culture's headquarters building at Diriyah, while the site preparatory works are under way at the Northern Cultural District P3 car park, where the ground-breaking ceremony took place recently.
Local/Chinese team begins underground main spine tunnel roundabout base slab works
Structural works are under way at Saudi Electricity Company's Diriyah 380/132/13.8kV substation and the super basement project, which WeBuild is delivering.
Diriyah Development Company's three-floor super basement car park will serve the mixed-use Diriyah Square district, which will include leisure and entertainment, hotels, retail, grade A offices, the King Salman Grand mosque and residential units designed in the traditional Najdi architectural style
KING SALMAN INTERNATIONAL PARK
Structural works are progressing well at the Royal Art Complex, the single biggest project in execution by value at King Salman International Park so far. Modern Building Leaders won the contract, worth $1.3bn, to build the project in 2022.
In addition to the Royal Art Complex, the 1,300-hectare masterplanned King Salman Park project includes a national theatre, museums, galleries, a golf course, and spaces for commercial, hospitality and residential components
Construction on the main tunnels and bridges project continues, with the bridge structure now in place. A joint venture (JV) of Consolidated Contractors Company and El-Seif Engineering Contracting Company is executing the project, which is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
King Salman Park was launched by King Salman in March 2019, alongside the Green Riyadh, Riyadh Art and Riyadh Sports Boulevard projects
The construction works are ongoing at almost all of the packages for Riyadh Sports Boulevard.
The projects currently in execution at the Riyadh Sports Boulevard include King Abdul-Aziz underpass package 8 and Abu Bakr underpass package 9, Zone 1A, Zone 1B, Zone 2A, Zone 5A, Zone 6: Package A, B, C, D, E and Cycling Bridge.
Riyadh Sports Boulevard – Package 5 Arts District. There are eight districts in total, with districts for entertainment, athletics and sports also planned
The structural works are under way at Seven's Al-Hamra entertainment complex (Exit 10), for which Al-Futtaim Engineering has been appointed as the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contractor.
Exit 10 is at the most advanced stage of construction out of the 21 planned entertainment complexes in 14 cities across the kingdom.
Meanwhile, early works proceed apace at Seven's Al-Nahdah entertainment complex (Exit 15) project. Consolidated Contractors Company is delivering the project.
Seven is owned by the Public Investment Fund and was formed in December 2017 as part of Riyadh’s push to localise Saudi spending on entertainment under the mandate of Vision 2030
Elsewhere in Riyadh, the client is delivering the housing units for Roshn's Sedra District community homes phase 1A, package 1. Indian contractor Shapoorji Pallonji is carrying out the construction works, which are in the finishing stages.
Located northeast of the Saudi capital, Sedra will consist of over 2,100 residential units, along with public parks, entertainment areas, retail, coffee shops and restaurants, community centres, schools, sports facilities and health care facilities
National Housing Company (NHC) is well on track with building its housing schemes in Riyadh. The infrastructure works are currently under way at the Dahiyat al-Fursan phase 1 project in the north of Riyadh. The work is being carried out by Al-Omaier Trading & Contracting.
Likewise, construction works are at advanced stages at NHC’s Al-Mashraqiya housing complex as well as for several of the packages at the Murcia complex, most notably Narges View, Rabieh Housing, Saraya al-Gwan, Asalah al-Gwan, Rawa Housing and the Al-Muhannadiya complex.
National Housing Company's Al-Mashraqiya housing complex, where construction is at an advanced stage
The foundation works are in progress at Shomoul Holdings’ The Avenues Riyadh project.
The project is one of the largest commercial malls in the Middle East and includes multiple districts such as Prestige, Grand Avenue, The Souk, The Mall, Electra, Oasis, Grand Plaza, The Forum and The Walk. Nesma & Partners won the project's main construction contract, worth $1.76bn, in 2021.
There is no construction activity at the Mall of Saudi project site. MEED exclusively reported this week that the Dubai-based developer Majid al-Futtaim (MAF) had put the plans for its estimated SR6bn ($1.6bn) project in Riyadh on hold.
By Yasir Iqbal, research manager MEED.com | MEED Projects | MEED Insight
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Dubai seeks contractors for Metro Gold Line
20 May 2026
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Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has invited contractors to express interest in a contract to build the new Gold Line, as part of its expansion of the Dubai Metro network.
The notice was issued in mid-May with a submission deadline of 13 June.
Dubai officially announced the launch of the new Gold Line in April.
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Stage one covers concept design, stage two covers preliminary design, stage three covers the preparation of tender documents, stage four encompasses construction supervision and stage five covers the defects and liability period.
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Iraq oil exports drop by 89% in April
20 May 2026
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Iraq exported 10 million barrels of crude in April, an 89% drop compared to the 93 million barrels that were exported the month before the Iran conflict, according to the country’s new Oil Minister, Basim Mohammed Khudair.
Oil exports generated just over $1bn in April, down from $6bn in February, according to a separate statement from the ministry.
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READ THE MAY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFGlobal energy sector forced to recalibrate; Conflict hits debt issuance and listings activity; UAE’s non-oil sector faces unclear recovery period amid disruption.
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the May 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> REGIONAL LNG: War undermines business case for Middle East LNG> CAPITAL MARKETS: Damage avoidance frames debt issuance> MARKET FOCUS: Conflict tests UAE diversificationTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16913742/main.jpg -
Iraq risks defaulting on payments for $10bn oil project
20 May 2026
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Iraq’s state-owned upstream operator Basra Oil Company (BOC) risks defaulting on payments for the $27bn Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP) due to fallout from the US and Israel’s war with Iran.
Phase one of the GGIP is expected to be worth about $10bn and BOC holds a 30% stake in the project, while its partners France’s TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy hold 45% and 25%, respectively.
The consortium formalised the investment agreement with the Iraqi government in September 2021.
As part of the investment agreement, BOC was expected to make payments to fund the development of the project and the money from these payments was expected to come from oil revenues.
Due to disruption to the shipping of oil via the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, which started on 28 February, BOC’s revenues from oil have declined significantly, impacting the company’s ability to provide funds for the project.
BOC could default on payments for the project within four to six months if disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continues, according to industry sources.
BOC has already informed TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy that it is going though liquidity problems because it is unable to export normal volumes of oil, sources said.
When contacted about the project’s financial issues, TotalEnergies referred MEED to comments made by the company’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne on 29 April.
He said: “We have maintained a team in Iraq, in Basra, of 20 TotalEnergies’ staff, who are supervising the progress of the GGIP projects on the ground, with around 5,000 workers there.”
He added: “This conflict immediately has some impact on TotalEnergies' operations. And we have been, by the way, very transparent, since day one, to disclose all the impacts on our activities.”
TotalEnergies declined to answer questions about potential changes to the schedule for the GGIP and whether there are alternative plans in place that provide for a situation where BOC could not deliver agreed funds.
GGIP masterplan
The GGIP programme is focused on developing four major projects in Iraq.
These are:
- The Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP)
- The Ratawi gas processing complex
- A 1GW solar power project for Iraq’s electricity ministry
- A field development project at Ratawi, known as the Associated Gas Upstream Project (AGUP)
The CSSP is designed to support oil production in Iraq’s southern oil and gas fields – mainly Zubair, Rumaila, Majnoon, West Qurna and Ratawi – by delivering treated seawater for injection, a method used to boost crude recovery rates and improve long-term reservoir performance.
China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) won a $1.61bn contract in May to execute engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for the gas processing complex at the Ratawi field development.
CPECC’s project team based in its Dubai office is performing detailed engineering work on the project.
In August last year, TotalEnergies awarded China Energy Engineering International Group the EPC contract for the 1GW solar project at the Ratawi field. A month later, QatarEnergy signed an agreement with TotalEnergies to acquire a 50% interest in the project.
The 1GW Ratawi solar scheme will be developed in phases, with each phase coming online between 2025 and 2027. It will have the capacity to provide electricity to about 350,000 homes in Iraq’s Basra region.
The project, consisting of 2 million bifacial solar panels mounted on single-axis trackers, will include the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of the photovoltaic power station site and 132kV booster station.
Separately, in June, TotalEnergies awarded China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering an EPC contract worth $294m to build a pipeline as part of a package known as the Ratawi Gas Midstream Pipeline.
Also, TotalEnergies awarded UK-based consultant Wood Group a pair of engineering framework agreements in April 2025, worth a combined $11m, under the GGIP scheme.
The agreements have a three-year term under which Wood will support TotalEnergies in advancing the AGUP.
One of the aims of the AGUP is to debottleneck and upgrade existing facilities to increase production capacity to 120,000 barrels a day of oil on completion of the first phase, according to a statement by Wood.
READ THE MAY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFGlobal energy sector forced to recalibrate; Conflict hits debt issuance and listings activity; UAE’s non-oil sector faces unclear recovery period amid disruption.
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the May 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> REGIONAL LNG: War undermines business case for Middle East LNG> CAPITAL MARKETS: Damage avoidance frames debt issuance> MARKET FOCUS: Conflict tests UAE diversificationTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16913732/main.jpg