In February, the Middle East and North Africa recorded $10.1bn of contract awards, well below the monthly average of $23.4bn over the past 12 months. 

Saudi Arabia led the contract awards activity with $5bn of deals inked in February. The biggest award was a $1.2bn contract signed by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City with the local Modern Building Leaders for the development of the City Park project located north of Riyadh. 

The kindgom also awarded a $1bn deal for the construction of a football stadium in Dammam, signed by Saudi Aramco with a joint venture of Belgian contractor Besix and the local Albawani. The facility will be used to host international tournaments such as the 2027 Asian Football Confederation Cup and the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

UAE

The UAE saw $3.1bn of deals signed in February, the largest of which was a $900m contract awarded by Emirates Water & Electricity Corporation to a team led by French utility developer EDF Renewables and including South Korea's Korea Western Power Company (Kowepo) for the 1,500MW Al Ajban solar photovoltaic independent power producer facility. 

Oman

Oman recorded $580m of awards in February, the biggest a $210m contract inked by the Transport, Communications & Information Technology Ministry for the Al Batina Coastal Road phase one project. 

Qatar

Qatar saw $530m of contracts awarded, the biggest a $329m deal signed by Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) with Egypt’s Elsewedy for the installation of low- and medium-power cables. 

Iraq

In Iraq, $440m of deals were inked in February, the largest a $240m contract awarded by Al Douh Iraqi Company for Cement Industries to China’s Sinoma Suzhou Construction for the construction of the Al Douh cement plant and clinker production facility in the Musanna province.

Kuwait

Kuwait recorded $144m of contracts signed, the biggest a $60m deal signed by the Public Authority for Housing Welfare with the local United Building Company for the construction of public buildings in Mutlaa Residential City.

Jordan

Jordan saw a single $107m deal awarded by the Water Authority of Jordan to the local Farhan & Fuad Abu Hamdan Contracting Company for the rehabilitation and expansion of the water supply system in the Dair Alla district and Al Karamah.  

Morocco

Morocco also recorded a single contract award in February, a $78m deal inked by the Agriculture & Fisheries Ministry for the interconnection works of the Oued El Makhazine dam with the Dar Khrofa dam. 

Bahrain

Bahrain saw $58m of deals signed, the biggest a $45m contract awarded by the Electricity & Water Authority to Switzerland-headquartered Hitachi Energy for the construction of transformer and reactor works for a new 400kV Jasra grid substation in the Northern Governorate region.

Egypt

Egypt rounded off the list of countries to award contracts in February, with a single $40m deal inked by Samsung Electronics with the local Hassan Allam Construction for the construction of a mobile phone factory on an area of 6,000 square metres in Beni Suef.