Read the October 2023 MEED Business Review
3 October 2023
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As work on the 1,000-metre-plus Jeddah Tower gets back on track, Saudi Arabia is set to steal the title of world’s tallest tower from Dubai.
It was a landmark moment for Saudi Arabia’s construction sector in mid-September when Jeddah Economic Company invited firms to bid for a contract to complete the world’s tallest tower project.
Work on the tower “is back in full [swing]”, a source close to the project told MEED.
When completed, Jeddah Tower will be the first structure in history to exceed 1 kilometre in height. Designed to have 170 storeys, it will out-tower Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by more than 172 metres and will put Saudi Arabia firmly in the spotlight.
MEED editor Colin Foreman provides exclusive details on the kingdom's tall tower plans in the latest issue of MEED Business Review.
He also comments on why Saudi Arabia will be seeking to escape the economic curse of record-breaking towers.
This month's exclusive 21-page market report also focuses on Saudi Arabia as Riyadh acts on multiple fronts to elevate its global influence, from international sports investment to cultivating geopolitical soft power.
MEED's latest issue is packed with analysis on topics including building the world's biggest urban park, tunnelling, the GCC rail project, joining Brics and the project's shaping Dubai's future.
MEED has also interviewed experts in the market including Parsons’ Martin Boson and Engie's Francois-Xavier Boul.
This month's industry report, meanwhile, presents MEED's annual power developer ranking, complete with league tables and analysis.
We hope our valued subscribers enjoy the October 2023 issue of MEED Business Review.

Must-read sections in the October 2023 issue of MEED Business Review include:
> AGENDA: Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower reaches for new heights
> SKYSCRAPERS: Top 10 tallest towers in the region
> TALL TOWER PLANS: Saudi seeks to escape economic curse of record-breaking towers
> CURRENT AFFAIRS: Brics tilts balance of regional interests
> RAIL: Risks remain for GCC railway project
> KING SALMAN PARK: Riyadh builds the world’s largest urban park
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INDUSTRY REPORT: MEED's 2023 power developer ranking |
> TUNNELS: Tunnelling projects take the front seat
> INTERVIEW: Parsons’ Martin Boson on long-term opportunities in the Saudi market
> DUBAI PROJECTS: Ten projects that will shape Dubai’s future
> GIGAPROJECTS: Saudi Arabia gigaprojects tracker
> INTERVIEW: Engie stages GCC renewables comeback
> OIL: Development of Dorra field may stoke tensions
> SAUDI ARABIA MARKET FOCUS:
> COMMENT: Riyadh reshapes its global role
> POLITICS: Saudi Arabia looks both east and west
> SPORT: Saudi Arabia’s football vision goes global
> ECONOMY: Riyadh prioritises stability over headline growth
> BANKS: Saudi banks track more modest growth path
> UPSTREAM: Aramco focuses on upstream capacity building
> DOWNSTREAM: Saudi chemical and downstream projects in motion
> POWER: Riyadh rides power projects surge
> WATER: Saudi water projects momentum holds steady
> GIGAPROJECTS: Gigaproject activity enters full swing
> TRANSPORT: Infrastructure projects support Riyadh’s logistics ambitions
> MEED COMMENTS:
> Iraq approval could lead to Exxon’s exit
> McDermott financial restructuring is imperative
> Region becomes battery storage hotspot
> Kuwait wastewater projects keep pace
> GULF PROJECTS INDEX: Gulf index rises 2 per cent in September
> AUGUST 2023 CONTRACTS: Region records $14bn of deals signed
> MARKET SNAPSHOT: Mena oil and gas
> OPINION: Region to mark golden jubilee of 1973 war
> BUSINESS OUTLOOK: Finance, oil and gas, construction, power and water contracts
Exclusive from Meed
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Iraq awards Baghdad airport PPP deal29 October 2025
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Saudi Electricity Company secures $3bn financing deal29 October 2025
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Design work completed for $1bn Libyan pipeline29 October 2025
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Qatari firm tenders Oman gabbro mining works29 October 2025
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Kuwait forms project company for Al-Zour North expansion29 October 2025
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Related Articles
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Iraq awards Baghdad airport PPP deal29 October 2025
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Iraq has awarded a contract to develop Baghdad International airport on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis to a consortium comprising Luxembourg-based Corporacion America Airports (CAAP) and local firm Amwaj International.
According to local media reports, the estimated $764m contract covers the rehabilitation of airport infrastructure, construction of a new passenger terminal, and operations and maintenance under a 25-year concession.
In a statement on its website, the Ministry of Transport said the airport’s initial capacity is expected to be around 9 million passengers, gradually increasing to 15 million.
Iraq’s Ministry of Transport and General Company for Airports & Air Navigation Services received the bids earlier this month, MEED reported.
The bidding consortium included:
- Asyad Holding / Top International Engineering Corporation / Lamar Holding / YDA Insaat / Dublin Airport Authority (Saudi Arabia/Saudi Arabia/Saudi Arabia/Turkiye/Ireland)
- Corporacion America Airports / Amwaj International (Luxembourg/Iraq)
- ERG International / Terminal Yapi / ERG Insaat (UK/Turkiye/Turkiye)
The media report added that the winning consortium offered the government 43.05% of total airport revenues.
The Asyad-led consortium offered 38.05%.
The ERG International-led consortium was disqualified from the bidding process.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the project’s lead transaction adviser.
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Saudi Electricity Company secures $3bn financing deal29 October 2025
Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has signed a $3bn financing agreement with a consortium of international banks at the Future Investment Initiative Forum (FII9) in Riyadh.
The financing comes as SEC continues to expand its project portfolio to meet rising electricity demand. In September, SEC outlined plans to invest SR220bn ($58.7bn) in power projects between 2025 and 2030.
This includes SR135bn ($36bn) and SR85bn ($22.7bn) for transmission and distribution, respectively, and is part of long-term plans to meet growing electricity demand while improving grid efficiency and reliability.
The financing partners include the UAE's Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD.
Also included are Bank of East Asia (Hong Kong), Bank of China, Barclays (UK), China Construction Bank, HSBC (UK), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (China), ING (Netherlands) and Mega Bank (Taiwan)
The state-controlled utility, majority-owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has dominated procurement activity in the power sector in 2025, awarding approximately $6bn-worth of contracts.
This has been led by two standalone projects in Dawadmi and Riyadh, each with a capacity of 500MW/2,000MWh and an estimated value of about $600m.
The utility continues to advance other major developments including the PP13 and PP14 combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants in Riyadh. In October, it signed $3.4bn in offtake deals for the plants, which have a total capacity of 3,356MW.
It also recently reached financial close for Saudi Arabia’s Qurayyah CCGT independent power project (IPP) expansion.
SEC will develop, finance, build, own and operate the 3,010MW plant as part of a consortium with Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power and Hajj Abdullah Alireza & Company (Haaco).
Alongside its financing agreement, SEC launched a new Supply Chain Financing Programme during FII9 in partnership with local fintech Manafa and US-headquartered SAP Taulia, supported by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.
The initiative aims to improve liquidity across the energy supply chain and enable suppliers to access fast financing at more competitive rates.
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Design work completed for $1bn Libyan pipeline29 October 2025

Front-end engineering and design (feed) work has been completed for the major oil pipeline that will extend from oil fields in the south of Libya to the oil export terminal of Es Sider, according to industry sources.
Libya’s Waha Oil Company, a subsidiary of state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), is developing the pipeline.
The 700-kilometre pipeline will have a diameter of 32 inches and the capacity to transport 1 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil.
One source said: “It is crucial that the existing pipeline is replaced. The existing pipeline is suffering frequent leaks and cannot handle higher pressures.
“In 1960, when the pipeline was installed, the pipe thickness was 36mm, but it is now so worn out that this has been reduced to around 8mm across much of the pipeline. In some spots, it is even less than 8mm.
“Production cannot be increased at the oil field due to this ageing facility.”
Waha is preparing to eventually tender an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project, which is estimated to have a value of between $1bn and $1.25bn.
Although the pipeline’s actual usage is unlikely to exceed 300,000 b/d for some time after its completion, it is being designed to be ready for a significant increase in oil production from Libya’s southern oil fields.
It is unclear when Waha plans to issue an invitation to bid for the project’s EPC contract.
In 2012, Waha announced a project to replace key oil pipelines in Libya, but funding issues delayed the timeline and invitations to bid were never issued.
In January 2024, MEED reported that Waha was considering plans to boost its production by 1 million b/d.
At the time, the subsidiary was producing about 300,000 b/d.
Earlier this month, NOC announced that the country’s crude oil production had reached 1,383,430 barrels a day (b/d).
The company said that natural gas production was 2,519 million cubic feet a day (cf/d), while condensate production was 49,013 b/d.
NOC said it aimed to further increase production capacity to approximately 1.6 million cf/d by 2026.
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Qatari firm tenders Oman gabbro mining works29 October 2025
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Qatar Primary Materials Company (QPMC) has issued a tender for additional works at its gabbro mining development in the Khatmat Milaha area of Oman, close to a border crossing with the UAE.
The broad scope of work involves the remaining works for two gabbro quarries and the construction of an export jetty at Khatmat Milaha, state-owned QPMC, also known as Al-Awalia, said in the tender notice.
Firms have until 11 November to submit bids for the tender, QPMC said.
QPMC owns a 3 million tonne‑a‑year (t/y) gabbro quarry at Khatmat Milaha in Oman, which is understood to have been commissioned in 2020. The quarry has an expandable capacity of 7 million t/y.
The Omani quarry project had been planned for a number of years. In 2015, QPMC signed an agreement with Belgian firm Rent-A-Port to start work on the Khatmat Milaha quarry project.
Rent-A-Port was the consultant for QPMC’s gabbro port in Qatar. A joint venture of Denmark’s FLSmidth and Sixco completed the estimated QR1.6bn ($430m) contract to build the aggregate berths in 2017.
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Kuwait forms project company for Al-Zour North expansion29 October 2025
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Kuwait has formally established a new public shareholding company to manage the next stages of the Al-Zour North independent water and power plant (IWPP).
The Gulf Alliance for Power & Water Company will be responsible for the construction, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of Al-Zour North IWPP phases two and three.
The Al-Zour North phases two and three IWPP involves constructing a 2,700MW power plant and a 120-million-imperial-gallon-a-day desalination facility. The project’s total estimated value is approximately $4bn.
In August, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Kuwait-based financial institution Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) signed a contract to develop the project, which will be the country’s largest IWPP.
The consortium of Acwa Power and GIC will hold 40% of the project company through Al-Zour Kuwaiti Second & Third Holding Company.
The Public-Private Partnership Authority will hold 10% on behalf of government entities, while 50% will be offered to Kuwaiti citizens through a public subscription process.
Al-Zour North IWPP phases two and three is owned by the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (Kapp) and the Ministry of Electricity, Water & Renewable Energy.
It will be developed under a build-operate-transfer model with a 25-year offtake agreement.
Sepco3 is the EPC contractor for the project.
The project company has been set up with an authorised and issued capital of KD197.032m ($639m).
This capital is divided into 1.97 billion shares, each with a nominal value of 100 fils. The paid-up capital at the time of establishment is KD49.2m.
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