Register for MEED’s 2023 construction summit
21 February 2023
After several challenging years, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) construction industry is starting a new era of spending.
The need to meet the expectations of growing populations is driving investment in transport infrastructure, housing and power and water capacity. At the same time, governments are investing in industrial, digital and logistics capacity to support the growth and diversification of the regional economy.
Inspired by powerful national visions, construction spending is surging across the region, led by huge masterplan developments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. But as well as new opportunities, the surge in activity also raises new challenges.
MEED’s Mena Construction Summit 2023 examines the trends, opportunities and challenges for construction companies and their suppliers in the Middle East.
Decarbonisation agenda
New factors are reshaping how projects in the Middle East are planned, delivered and operated.
In November 2022, Egypt hosted the 27th instalment of the UN climate change summit, Cop27. This year, from 30 November until 12 December, the UAE will host Cop28. Decarbonising the economy is at the top of the regional policy agenda and is set to transform project delivery in the region.
As the biggest consumer of raw materials, generating between 25-40 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, the construction industry is vital in the drive to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Mena Construction Summit 2023 examines what the decarbonisation agenda means for the Middle East construction industry and discusses ways to reduce the carbon footprint of its people, plants and materials.
Smart construction
Covid-19 has turbocharged the digitalisation of the region's construction industry, and project sponsors and construction clients today expect digital data and smart technology to drive efficiency, safety, sustainability and whole life-cycle profits.
Technologies such as 4D and 5D building information modelling (BIM), digital twins, cloud-based project controls, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics are no longer ‘nice to haves’. They are essential to be competitive.
The Mena Construction Summit 2023 explores how new technology is transforming project delivery and redefining design and construction, while at the same time reducing waste and environmental impact.
At the heart of the Middle East construction community
After a successful third edition of the summit in 2022 that boasted over 1,000 attendees representing the biggest regional construction companies, the fourth edition of the Mena Construction Summit continues to support the construction ecosystem for smart and sustainable cities and help firms change their operational dynamics.
Bringing together key players from across the construction value chain, the event will showcase some of the latest research and innovations driving improvements in productivity, quality, reliability, cost-savings, waste-reduction and energy efficiency and how you can employ these methods in your projects.
Join us in person for the fourth edition of the Mena Construction Summit on 7 June 2023 as we explore the many ways of using innovation and technology to construct sustainable buildings of the future. An immersive agenda with interactive panel discussions, fireside chats and keynote presentations will offer the unmissable opportunity to discuss and examine case studies from the region’s greatest gigaprojects.
Participants attending include representatives from important government stakeholders, project owners, contractors, architects, engineers, consultants, digital technology and equipment providers and software solution companies.
This is an exclusive opportunity to network in person with high-profile individuals, deepen your understanding of the construction sector in the Mena region and make the right investments, while ensuring better project delivery and finding future growth opportunities.
Exclusive from Meed
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Riyadh tenders Al-Zulfi passenger railway station
22 October 2025
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Procurement begins for $372m Rixos Alkhobar resort
22 October 2025
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Saudi Arabia plans Mecca transit-oriented development
22 October 2025
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Petrojet consortium wins $1.1bn oil contract in Algeria
22 October 2025
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Contractors prepare Riyadh Expo infrastructure bids
21 October 2025
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Related Articles
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Riyadh tenders Al-Zulfi passenger railway station
22 October 2025
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has tendered a design-and-build contract for the construction of a passenger railway station in the Zulfi governorate, located 260 kilometres northwest of Riyadh.
The station in Al-Zulfi will serve SAR’s North Railway line.
According to the tender notice published on SAR’s website, the scope includes the construction of the station building, firefighting facilities, track works, signalling and telecommunication systems, utilities, access roads, parking, landscaping and other associated works.
SAR has set 4 December as the deadline for firms to submit their bids.
The passenger section of the North Railway – formerly known as the North-South Railway – extends over 1,250 kilometres.
The line originates in Riyadh and runs northwest to Al-Haditha, near the Jordanian border, passing through Majmaah, Qassim, Hail, Jouf and Qurayyat.
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Procurement begins for $372m Rixos Alkhobar resort
22 October 2025
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Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Development Fund and US-based investment firm FTG International Group have invited companies to prequalify for a contract to develop a mixed-use resort at Half Moon Beach in Alkhobar, in the kingdom’s Eastern Region.
“The prequalification process is ongoing and the project is likely to be tendered in a few weeks,” sources close to the project told MEED.
The estimated SR1.4bn ($372m) project will cover an area of approximately 262,000 square metres.
It will comprise 400 hotel units and 41 residential villas.
The resort will operate under the Rixos brand and be fully managed by French hospitality firm Accor.
UK-based analytics firm GlobalData expects Saudi Arabia’s construction industry to grow by 4% in real terms in 2025, driven by investments in housing, energy and transport infrastructure.
The commercial construction sector is projected to grow by 3.7% in real terms in 2025 and maintain an average annual growth rate of 3.7% from 2026 to 2029. This is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to attract 150 million tourists annually and add 320,000 hotel rooms by 2030.
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Saudi Arabia plans Mecca transit-oriented development
22 October 2025
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Saudi Railway Company (SAR) has signed an agreement with local investment firm Riyad Capital to establish a real estate fund to develop a mixed-use, transit-oriented project in Mecca.
The project will span more than 90,000 square metres in the Al-Rusifah district, near the Haramain high-speed railway station in Mecca.
The development is estimated to cost more than SR6bn ($1.6bn).
Riyad Capital operates through four business lines: asset and wealth management, brokerage, corporate investment banking and securities services.
In an official statement, the company said its real-estate portfolio spans three continents and is valued at more than $6bn.
UK-based analytics firm GlobalData expects Saudi Arabia's construction industry to grow by 4% in real terms in 2025, supported by investments in the housing, energy and transport infrastructure sectors.
The commercial sector is estimated to grow by 3.7% in real terms in 2025 and to register an average annual growth of 3.7% from 2026 to 2029, supported by the government’s Vision 2030 plan. Under that plan, the government aims to attract 150 million tourists annually and add 320,000 hotel rooms by 2030.
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Petrojet consortium wins $1.1bn oil contract in Algeria
22 October 2025
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A consortium of Egypt’s Petrojet and Italy’s Arkad has been awarded a $1.087bn contract for the second phase of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz oil field development project in Algeria.
The consortium is led by Petrojet and the client is Groupement HBR, a joint venture of Algeria’s national oil and gas company Sonatrach and Thailand’s PTTEP.
The scope of work includes the construction of a central processing facility with a capacity of 31,500 barrels a day (b/d), along with associated facilities and pipeline networks extending over 217 kilometres.
It also includes the construction of a power distribution station and storage tanks.
In a statement, Petrojet said: “This award represents a significant step forward in strengthening Petrojet’s presence in the Algerian market and reaffirms its position as a leading regional [engineering, procurement and construction] EPC contractor delivering integrated, world-class energy projects.”
Groupement HBR, which operates the Hassi Bir Rekaiz oil and gas concession, tendered the design contract for the second phase of the field development project in August 2023.
HBR started production from phase one of the project in June 2022.
China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation executed EPC work on the first phase of the field development project. The contract was signed in 2020, with a value of $116m.
The production target for phase one was 13,000 b/d of oil.
The project site, in the eastern part of Algeria, contains blocks 443a, 424a, 414ext and 415ext.
PTTEP and its partners found oil and gas in 10 out of 11 exploration wells drilled in the 1,916-square-kilometre area between 2013 and 2016.
Algeria oil and gas sector
Project activity in Algeria’s energy, industrial and manufacturing sectors is steadily building as the country focuses on a vertically integrated strategy that leverages the exploitation of its natural resources.
In July, Sonatrach and Italian energy company Eni signed a production-sharing hydrocarbons contract estimated to be worth $1.35bn.
The contract covers the exploration and exploitation of the Zemoul El-Kebir concession area, located in the Berkine Basin, approximately 300km east of Hassi Messaoud.
The deal with Eni is the latest of several high-profile agreements that Sonatrach has announced with international oil and gas companies.
In June, Algeria awarded five out of the six oil and gas exploration licences it offered during its 2024 bidding round, a move viewed as a success by stakeholders in the country’s energy sector.
The companies that were awarded blocks included France’s TotalEnergies, state-owned QatarEnergy, Eni and PTTEP.
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Contractors prepare Riyadh Expo infrastructure bids
21 October 2025
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Sixteen firms have been invited to bid for the contract to undertake the initial infrastructure works at the Expo 2030 Riyadh site.
Saudi Arabia’s Expo 2030 Riyadh Company (ERC), tasked with delivering the Expo 2030 Riyadh venue, floated the tender for the project’s initial infrastructure works in September, as MEED reported.
The firms invited to bid include:
- Shibh Al-Jazira Contracting (local)
- Hassan Allam Construction (Egypt)
- El-Seif Engineering Contracting (local)
- Al-Ayuni Investment & Contracting (local)
- Kolin Construction (Turkiye)
- Al-Yamama Trading & Contracting Company (local)
- Saudi Pan Kingdom (local)
- Unimac (local)
- Mapa Insaat (Turkiye)
- Yuksel Insaat (Turkiye)
- IC Ictas / Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting (Turkiye/local)
- Mota-Engil / Albawani (Portugal/local)
- Almabani / FCC Construction (local/Spain)
The overall infrastructure works – covering the construction of main utilities and civil works at Expo 2030 Riyadh – will be split into three packages:
- Lot 1 covers the main utilities corridor
- Lot 2 includes the northern cluster of the nature corridor
- Lot 3 comprises the southern cluster of the nature corridor
ERC issued the tender for infrastructure package Lot 1 on 21 September and has set deadlines of 26 October and 9 November for submission of technical and commercial bids, respectively.
ERC is expected to award the contract for the Riyadh Expo infrastructure package in December.
MEED previously reported that ERC was expected to issue the tender for some of the infrastructure packages in September.
In July, US-based engineering firm Bechtel Corporation announced it had won the project management consultancy deal for the delivery of the Expo 2030 Riyadh masterplan construction works.
The masterplan encompasses an area of 6 square kilometres, making it one of the largest sites designated for a World Expo event. Situated to the north of the Saudi capital, the site will be located near the future King Salman International airport, providing direct access to various landmarks within Riyadh.
Countries participating in Expo 2030 Riyadh will have the option to construct permanent pavilions. This initiative is expected to create opportunities for business and investment growth in the region.
The expo is forecast to attract more than 40 million visitors.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth vehicle, launched ERC in June as a wholly owned subsidiary to build and operate facilities for Expo 2030.
In a statement, the PIF said: “During its construction phases, Expo 2030 Riyadh and its legacy are projected to contribute around $64bn to Saudi GDP and generate approximately 171,000 direct and indirect jobs. Once operational, it is expected to contribute approximately $5.6bn to GDP.”
READ THE OCTOBER 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF
Private sector takes on expanded role; Riyadh shifts towards strategic expenditure; MEED’s 2025 power developer ranking
Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
> AGENDA 1: A new dawn for PPPs> AGENDA 2: GCC pushes PPPs to deliver $70bn pipeline> POWER DEVELOPER RANKING: Acwa Power consolidates power sector dominance> IPPs: GCC enters pivotal year for IPPs> ACQUISITION: Wood takeover could boost Sidara profits> INTERVIEW: SLB strives to boost regional standing> SAUDI MARKET FOCUS: Riyadh strives for sustainable growthTo see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click herehttps://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14912102/main.jpg