Related Articles

• 
  PIF firm appoints Jeddah mixed-use project contractor

  23 April 2025

  Saudi Real Estate Company (Al-Akaria), backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has appointed its subsidiary firm, Tamear, as the main contractor for its Porta Jeddah project.

  The mixed-use development will have a built-up area of about 123,000 square metres. The project includes the construction of a four-star hotel, an office building, two retail and food and beverage buildings, a leisure and cinema building, open areas and other associated infrastructure.

  It is located within the Al-Nahda district of Jeddah. 

  London-headquartered architectural firm Chapman Taylor is the project architect. 

  Jeddah-based Burouj Engineering Consultant is the project consultant.

  MEED reported in March that Al-Akaria was preparing to award the contract to build its Porta Jeddah project.

  In its 2024 financial statement released on 19 March, Al-Akaria said it was preparing to award contracts for projects including the Porta Jeddah mixed-use development in Jeddah and the Al-Narjis office project in Riyadh.

  In March last year, MEED exclusively reported that Al-Akaria had issued the main contract tender inviting firms to bid.

  Prior to that, in June 2023, Al-Akaria signed an agreement with US-based hotel operator Hilton to operate and manage the Canopy by Hilton hotel within the Porta Jeddah development.

  The property will have 183 keys and will include 55 serviced apartments, several retail outlets, meeting spaces and leisure and sports facilities.

  GlobalData expects the Saudi construction industry to record an annual average growth rate of 5.2% in 2025-28, supported by investments in transport, electricity, housing and tourism infrastructure projects, as well as the $850bn-plus gigaprojects programme.

  The commercial construction sector is estimated to grow by 3.9% in real terms in 2024 and register an annual average growth of 3.6% in 2025-28, supported by the government’s plan to boost tourism, coupled with the construction of hotels, stadiums and data centres.

  

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13739826/main.jpg

  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Transformers market to reach $89bn by 2030

  23 April 2025

  The global transformers market is on a strong growth trajectory, projected to reach $89.34bn in 2030, driven by rising electricity demand, renewable integration, and grid modernization, according to a recent report by GlobalData.

  The Asia-Pacific (Apac) region is set to lead the charge with robust investments, while the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (Emea) region is poised to grow fastest, fueled by infrastructure upgrades and power sector reforms across developing economies in the Middle East and Africa, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

  “The global transformers market is witnessing substantial growth, fueled by an escalating demand for electricity, a definitive transition to renewable energy sources, and the imperative to modernise aging grid infrastructures," notes Bhavana Sri Pullagura, senior power analyst at GlobalData.

  

  Technological innovations, the evolution of market standards, and the burgeoning economic strength of developing nations further support this growth trajectory.

  GlobalData’s report, “Transformers Market Size, Share and Trends Analysis by Technology, Installed Capacity, Generation, Key Players and Forecast to 2030,” reveals that the global market for power transformers is projected to reach $35.83bn, while the distribution transformers market is anticipated to attain $53.51bn in 2030.

  The Asia Pacific power transformers market is set to grow from $12.35bn in 2024 to $18.96bn in 2030. 

  “National electrification programs, expanding renewable energy portfolios, market reforms, and the substantial industrial bases in China and India are poised to contribute to the new infrastructure development, thereby bolstering the regional market," explains Pullagura.

  With the demand for power set to increase in the Middle East and Africa, the Emea is estimated to be the fastest growing region, with a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7%, over the forecast period.

  Distribution transformers market

  The Apac region is projected to be the largest distribution transformers market, with an anticipated value of $32.51bn in 2030. The diverse market conditions within the Emea region suggest that more established European markets, such as Germany and the UK, will prioritise the replacement of aging infrastructure to ensure continued reliability.

  Conversely, countries in Africa and the Middle East are expected to demonstrate significant demand for distribution transformers, spurred by the ongoing power sector reforms.

  The growth in the Emea is likely to be at a CAGR of 9.1% and the Americas market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period.

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  MEED Editorial
• 
  Saudi Arabia holds high-level nuclear talks

  23 April 2025

  

   

  Riyadh has initiated bilateral discussions with several countries with nuclear technology providers that have been invited to bid for a contract to develop Saudi Arabia’s first large-scale nuclear power plant project.

  “One-one, government-to-government discussions and meetings are being held or scheduled,” a source familiar with the project tells MEED.

  The Chinese, South Korean, French and Russian nuclear contractors are understood to be among those keen to pursue the project, which has been in the planning stage since the mid-2010s.

  Saudi Arabia restarted procurement proceedings for its first large-scale nuclear power plant project in Duwaiheen in 2022.

  MEED previously reported that the companies that have been invited and are expected to bid for the contract include:

  • China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC, China)
  • Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco, South Korea)
  • Rosatom (Russia) 
  • EDF Group (France)

  The project client, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-Care), has set and extended the bid submission deadlines several times since 2022.

  According to the source, the bid deadline is “more like a moving target, running in parallel with the progress in the bilateral government-to-government talks”.

  The ongoing conflict between Israel, Gaza and other neighbouring countries appears to be a major contributing factor in the extended procurement timeline of the Duwaiheen nuclear plant project. Some sources allude that the project will likely feature in US President Trump’s expected visit to Riyadh over the coming weeks.

  It is understood that Riyadh is using its nuclear power plant project, along with its plan to enrich uranium sources as part of its industrial strategy, as a bargaining chip with the US government. The White House is pushing for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and is opposed to uranium enrichment.

  2.8GW project

  The Duwaiheen nuclear power plant is expected to be procured using a traditional design-and-build model. 

  In September 2016, MEED reported that Saudi Arabia was carrying out technical and economic feasibility studies for the first reactors and was also considering possible locations for the kingdom’s first nuclear project, a 2.8GW facility.

  A site at Khor Duwaiheen, on the coast near the UAE and Qatari borders, was subsequently chosen for the first project.

  In March 2022, Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a holding company – understood to be the Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company – to develop nuclear power projects in the country to produce electricity, desalinate seawater and support thermal energy applications.

  Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company received three bids for the project management consultancy package for the nuclear plant project in 2023.

  MEED understands that the following companies submitted proposals for the contract:

  • Atkins (UK/Canada)
  • Worley (Australia)
  • Assystems (France)

  Two of the three bidders have had previous engagements with the Saudi nuclear energy project. 

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13738776/main.jpg

  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Trump’s new world order

  23 April 2025

  Commentary
  Edmund O’Sullivan
  Former editor of MEED

  Of all the things US President Donald Trump has done since returning to the White House, nothing offends economists more than higher tariffs.

  But through history, most US presidents loved customs duties. Before 1913, there was no federal personal income tax and more than 90% of US government revenue came from taxing imports. Tariffs also protected America’s infant industries and laid the foundations for the US to become the world’s leading industrial power. Germany was persuaded in the late 19th century that it should follow America’s lead.

  By then, Britain was the only major economy where free trade was enthusiastically supported. Making imports duty free allowed its manufacturing industries to import cheap raw materials and kept down the price of food. But it too became protectionist in response to the Great Depression, which started in 1929.

  After the Second World War, Washington concluded the depression lasted so long because of beggar-my-neighbour trade policies. It championed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), launched in 1947, to cut customs duties on a multilateral basis.

  But the idea that a low-tariff world was unambiguously good only emerged following the end of Soviet Communism in 1991. One of the greatest barriers to a global free market had disappeared. The World Trade Organisation (WTO), which replaced the GATT in 1995, made tariff agreements legally enforceable. The WTO is perhaps the highest expression of the global free trade dream.

  And yet policymakers remained sceptical. The EU has trimmed duties – they average around 5% – but not abolished them. And there are other ways of discouraging imports: manufacturing standards including sustainability criteria, state finance and hidden subsidies.

  China has not become the world’s leading exporter because of the invisible hand of the market. Trump says it is cheating, and he has a point. Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s leading exporter of manufactured goods as a result of cheap petroleum feedstock and finance to promote fertiliser and petrochemicals production.

  Trump’s solution 

  There is a lesson in all this: economics is not a science, and any leader who treats it as such will fail. And Trump is not the first modern US president to reject its dogma. Under President Joe Biden, Washington’s budget deficit and debt soared. That is something Trump says he was elected to remedy. Tariffs are part of his solution.

  The global trade system invariably echoes geopolitical realities. Britain loved free trade because it made its empire the most extensive in history. The post-1945 economic system facilitated America’s economic dominance of the western hemisphere. The WTO made sense in a unipolar world.

  Trump’s tariffs tell us globalism is now dead and multipolarity has arrived for us all.

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  Connect with Edmund O’Sullivan on X

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  More from Edmund O’Sullivan:

  > Is this the end for Middle East studies?
  > Trump’s foreign policy shakes global relations
  > Between the extremes as spring approaches
  > A leap into the unknown
  > Middle East faces a reckoning
  > Biden leaves a mixed legacy
  > Desperate days drag on
  > The beginning of the end
  > The death of political risk
  > Italy at centre of new reduced Europe

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  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13713621/main.jpg

  Edmund O’Sullivan
• 
  Du and Microsoft sign $544m hyperscale deal

  23 April 2025

  Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

  Dubai-based Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du) has signed a deal to build a AED2bn ($544m) hyperscale data centre in Dubai in partnership with US-headquartered Microsoft.

  The US tech firm will be the data centre’s anchor or main tenant.

  Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum witnessed the signing of the deal during the Dubai AI Week and announced it on social media on 22 April.

  At Dubai AI Week, I witnessed an announcement from du to launch a groundbreaking AED 2 billion hyperscale data centre, in collaboration with Microsoft. This marks a significant investment in digital infrastructure, reinforcing Dubai's leadership in adopting the latest… pic.twitter.com/aQSWPSvstN

  — Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) April 22, 2025

  He said the announcement reinforces “Dubai’s leadership in adopting the latest technologies, innovations and digital services”.

  Hyperscale data centres are large, often distributed facilities designed for large-scale workloads. They typically comprise thousands of servers and miles of connection equipment to foster high redundancy.

  The Du and Microsoft hyperscale data centre will be built and operated at a cost of around AED2bn.

  MEED understands that the data centre’s capacity will be delivered in tranches.

  Du operates five data centres across the UAE, including three in Dubai and two in Abu Dhabi.

  According to MEED Projects data, as of April, an estimated $12bn-worth of data centre construction projects across the GCC are in the planning stage, in addition to over $820m under bid and $7bn under construction.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo