Meed | Qatar construction shows signs of recovery

Qatar construction shows signs of recovery

16 January 2025

In June 2024, Qatar launched the Simaisma project on the coast to the north of Doha in the latest sign of the country’s plan to accelerate its non-hydrocarbons economic growth.

The project covers an area of over eight square kilometres and comprises 16 tourism zones available for development by the private sector, including resorts, a theme park, an 18-hole golf course, residential villas, a yacht marina, restaurants and retail facilities.

The launch ceremony was attended by Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani, along with other key figures from the government and the investment, tourism and real estate communities.

The integrated tourism development aligns with the targets set out by the Third National Development Strategy 2024-30, which was launched last year and aims to increase the contribution of non-oil sectors in the Qatari economy.

For the best part of a decade, work on the Fifa World Cup 2022 stadiums and the associated infrastructure sustained the country’s non-hydrocarbons economic growth. However, the construction market found itself at a crossroads after the conclusion of the event.

Market overview

Since 2019, there has been a consistent year-on-year decline in contract awards in Qatar’s construction and transport sectors. The total value was $13.5bn that year, but by 2023, it had fallen to just over $1.2bn.

In 2024, the project contract award figure increased to $1.7bn in a nominally incremental increase, but one that crucially bucks the downward trend in the market in the preceding four years.

The numbers were mainly driven by the construction sector, which recorded contract awards of over $1.2bn, while transport contract awards accounted for about $200m of the overall figure.

Strategic projects worth more than $5bn in the bidding phase are expected to provide renewed impetus to the construction and transportation market and present opportunities to contractors in the near term.

The schemes involved include the Perlita Gardens project at Pearl Qatar, renovation works at Hamad General Hospital, the Al-Shamal airbase zone two, and several roads and infrastructure development schemes under Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal).

Education uplift

Last year, Qatar also progressed several public infrastructure and building schemes, the most significant of which is the plan to develop 14 schools across the country through a public-private partnership (PPP).

In March, Ashghal and local construction firm Urbacon Trading & Contracting Company signed an estimated $330m agreement to develop the project on a PPP basis.

As per the agreement, five primary schools will be built in the South Al-Wajba, Muaither, Al-Thumama and Al-Meshaf areas. Four preparatory schools will be established in Muaither, Al-Gharrafa, Al-Aziziya and Rawdat Rashed.

Three secondary schools will be developed in Ain Khaled, Muaither and Al-Thumama, and two science and technology schools will be built in the Al-Sakhama and Rawdat Al-Hamama areas.

The other significant contract signed last year was a $243m deal with China Municipal Engineering Central South Design and Research Institute Company to restore old landfills in Mesaieed and Umm Slal in Doha.

These deals were followed by Ashghal’s $76m contract award to the local firm Al-Attiyah Architectural Group Holding for the construction of the Renad Academy and a $35m design consultancy contract for the court complex and court of cassation to the Austrian firm Berger + Parkkinen Architekten.

Transport masterplan

Qatar’s transport sector is largely supported by the Transportation Master Plan for Qatar 2050 (TMPQ) plan, which its Transport Ministry unveiled in 2022. The plan supports 286 projects, including 86 highway schemes, 22 for cargo transportation, 54 public transportation schemes, 21 for pedestrians, 29 cycling schemes and 74 cross-modal and integration projects.

Future highway schemes will entail 37 infrastructure packages totalling 770 kilometres, 22 truck schemes, and 10 infrastructure and facilities schemes. The public transport programme comprises 30 schemes for upgrading the main 540km public transport network.

The masterplan also includes long-distance, metro and regional rail network plans.

Several of the schemes under the plan made some progress in 2024, with Ashghal awarding a number of infrastructure development contracts. These include the award of road improvement works in Doha city to the local firm Al-Mohannadi Group; road and infrastructure works in Birkat Al-Awamer sector 8 to Turkish firm Iris Insaat; and the remaining works in Rawdat Egdaim and Ezghawa P1 to Doha-based Lotus Trading & Contracting Company.

The investments in Qatar’s construction and transport sectors dried up significantly after the 2022 Fifa World Cup, but last year’s upward contract award trend and restrengthening pipeline of pending projects are positive signs for contractors in the country.

MEED's February 2025 special report on Qatar includes:

> GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY: Qatar economy rebounds alongside diplomatic activity
> BANKING: Qatar banks look to calmer waters in 2025
> POWER & WATER: Facility E award jumpstarts Qatar’s utility projects
> DOWNSTREAM: Qatar chemical projects take a step forward

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Yasir Iqbal

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Jedco maps next phase of Jeddah airport expansion
22 September 2026

Jeddah Airports Company (Jedco) has outlined plans for the next phase of expansion at King Abdulaziz International airport (KAIA) in Jeddah.

The programme comprises six upcoming contractor packages spanning airside works, terminal upgrades and utilities as Jedco advances its long-term expansion plans.

The opportunities include airfield rehabilitation; a five-year construction framework covering multiple workstreams and facility types; a Terminal 3A (T3A) package; Terminal 1 (T1) optimisation; a fuel farm; and Concourse C works.

The packages cover terminal buildings and ancillary facilities, runways, taxiways and aprons, hangars, fuel systems, airside facilities, supporting infrastructure and utility networks.

Tendering and award activity will be staggered over the next two years. Airfield rehabilitation is targeted for Q3 2026. The construction framework is scheduled for Q4 2026 and will run for five years.

The T3A package is planned for Q1 2027 and will be delivered under an early contractor involvement contract. Local contractors are encouraged to bid as part of a joint venture with an experienced international partner.

T1 optimisation is planned for Q4 2027, the fuel farm for Q2 2027, and Concourse C – currently the latest of the six milestones – for Q2 2028.

The new packages add detail to Jedco’s wider expansion plans disclosed in 2023, when it was reported that the company would invest SR115bn ($31bn) to increase KAIA’s capacity to 114 million passengers a year, with an overall completion target of 2031.

Jedco has recently awarded several significant contracts linked to the airport’s upgrade programme.

In November 2024, a joint venture of local Algihaz Contracting and Turkey’s TAV was awarded a contract to rehabilitate the South Terminal to serve Umrah and Hajj pilgrims, with Singapore’s Surbana Jurong acting as consultant.

Earlier that year, Jedco also awarded France’s Alstom a contract to increase the capacity of the Innovia automated people mover at Terminal 1, including new cars and upgrades to signalling, communications and controls.

Surbana Jurong is expected to play a leading role in future KAIA expansion plans and is currently providing technical advisory and project management consultancy for more than 100 capital projects for Jedco, valued at over SR6bn ($1.6bn).

These upgrades are expected to boost KAIA’s annual capacity in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and National Aviation Strategy, enhancing the experience for domestic travellers and millions of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.

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Yasir Iqbal

Contractor wins $105m Medina university hospital deal

22 September 2026

Riyadh-based construction firm Al-Mansouria General Contracting Company has been awarded a SR396m ($105.6m) contract to complete the remaining construction works on the Taiba University Hospital project in Medina.

The contract scope includes structural completion, remaining civil works, mechanical, electrical and plumbing installations, specialised clinical fit-outs and medical gas infrastructure to bring the long-stalled facility into operation.

Located on King Khalid Road along Medina’s Third Ring Road, the teaching hospital will have a capacity of 563 beds.

The contract duration is three years, with delivery targeted for late 2029.

The latest award follows a prolonged procurement cycle that began more than a decade ago as part of a public budget drive to expand Saudi Arabia’s higher education infrastructure.

The project’s first phase was initially signed in December 2011 with local firm Al-Muhaidib Contracting under a SR500m ($133.3m) contract.

Groundbreaking for the eight-storey complex took place in July 2013. The project covers a gross floor area of more than 200,000 square metres.

Progress stalled shortly thereafter due to reported structural delays and the reallocation of public capital budgets across the kingdom’s social infrastructure pipeline.

READ THE SEPTEMBER 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

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Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the September 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

> AGENDA: Gulf nuclear revival takes shape

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> INDUSTRY REPORT: Gas processing takes centre stage in Mena region

> INTERVIEW: Emsteel persists with business productivity and efficiency

> TUNNELS: The Gulf’s next construction boom is happening underground

To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

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Yasir Iqbal

Oman tenders Thumrait Industrial City infrastructure
22 September 2026

Oman’s Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has tendered an estimated RO15m ($39m) contract to develop infrastructure for Thumrait Industrial City.

The tender was issued on 14 September, with bids due by 12 November.

The scope covers site-wide utilities and services, including an internal road network, stormwater channels and culverts. It also includes installing sewerage and water networks, along with landscaping works.

In addition, Madayn intends to build plug-and-play industrial units and a facilities building.

The first phase of the development will cover about 120,000 square metres (sq m).

Thumrait Industrial City is located in Oman’s Dhofar Governorate and spans an area of more than four million sq m.

The project location is close to concession blocks, quarry sites and the Najd agricultural areas. It is positioned to attract industrial investments in sectors such as mining and minerals processing (including gypsum and cement), food production, and a range of light and general manufacturing activities.

In March, Madayn said it is preparing to invest more than RO245m ($637m) to upgrade and expand infrastructure across its industrial cities between 2026 and 2030, as part of efforts to attract new investment and advance economic diversification.

According to media reports, Madayn chief executive Dawood Bin Salim Al-Hadabi said the programme is part of an expanded, phased plan aligned with Oman Vision 2040 and the authority’s long-term Madayn 2040 strategy.

The objective is to deepen Oman’s industrial base and spread growth across the sultanate’s governorates.

Madayn said the pipeline comprises about 90 strategic projects to improve industrial-city infrastructure, extend serviced land and increase the overall ease of doing business for investors.

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Yasir Iqbal
Kuwait halves drilling contractor pool
22 September 2026
State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has reduced the number of approved contractors for onshore drilling and shallow-well maintenance from 51 to 24.

Firms that are no longer qualified include major contractors such as Italy’s Saipem, Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne and Houston-based Patterson-UTI Energy.

The latest list still includes a wide range of Kuwaiti, regional and international companies, according to the latest update on its electronic system, published on 21 September 2026.

The full list of contractors that are now qualified to participate in tenders is:
- Burgan Company for Well Drilling, Trading & Maintenance (Kuwait)
- Kuwait Drilling Company (Kuwait)
- Sun Drilling Kuwait (Kuwait)
- TDL Kuwait for Oil Rigs & Natural Gas Extraction Activities, Services and Facilities (Kuwait)
- United Precision Drilling (Kuwait)
- Abraj Energy Services (Oman)
- Adnoc Drilling Company (UAE)
- Arabian Drilling Company (Saudi Arabia)
- Anton Oilfield Services (China)
- China Oilfield Services (China)
- Egyptian Drilling Company (Egypt)
- CNPC Bohai Drilling Engineering Company (China)
- Great Wall Drilling Company (China)
- John Energy (India)
- Kerui Oilfield Service (China)
- KCA Deutag Drilling (Germany)
- Mohammed Al-Barwani Petroleum Services (Oman)
- Nabors Drilling International (US)
- National Drilling & Services Company (Oman)
- Sea & Land Drilling Contractors (Oman)
- Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation (China)
- Karamay Jianye Energy (China)
- Modern Drilling Company (Egypt)
- Grey Wolf Drilling International (US)
An earlier list, which was published on 11 February, included 51 qualified companies.

The reduction in qualified drilling contractors follows KOC’s notice on 27 April this year, informing existing qualified contractors that they would need to reapply.
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Wil Crisp

Abu Dhabi expects 45% emissions cut as electricity demand rises

21 September 2026

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Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) expects carbon emissions from power and water production to fall by more than 45% by 2035 as the UAE expands renewable energy and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination.

The state offtaker's latest long-term system planning forecasts emissions will decline from about 42 million tonnes in 2019 to approximately 23 million tonnes in 2035.

The reduction is expected despite annual electricity demand that is forecast to rise by about 70% in 2026-33.

Ewec said the expansion of renewable energy and the shift towards RO desalination will be the principal drivers of the reduction.

The company plans to increase Abu Dhabi's solar capacity to 14GW by 2030 and more than 35GW by 2035. This will be supported by up to 15GW of battery storage capacity.

According to regional project tracker MEED Projects, Ewec has over $16bn-worth of power and water projects in the execution stage as part of its long-term procurement programme to increase renewable energy and low-carbon water production capacity.

This includes a 5.2GW Abu Dhabi solar and battery energy storage system (bess) round-the-clock renewable energy project, as well as three 1.5GW solar photovoltaic independent power projects (IPP): Al-Ajban, Al-Khazna and Al-Zarraf.

It also comprises the 1GW Al-Dhafra open-cycle gas turbine power plant, the 2.5GW Taweelah C combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant and a separate 400MW bess IPP.

As previously reported, it is expected that the developer's agreement for the 3.3GW Al-Nouf 1 CCGT IPP will be signed by the end of the year, while contractors are preparing to submit bids for a separate 2.6GW power plant project in Ajman.

The expansion of solar and battery storage is expected to reduce the system's reliance on gas-fired generation. However, gas-fired generation will continue to provide flexibility to support the system and balance intermittent renewable power output, according to Ewec.

The offtaker also expects RO desalination to account for more than 95% of total water production by 2035, with the procurement programme supporting the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy's Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035 for electricity production and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategy.