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  New Murabba and Alat sign Mukaab project MoU

  1 August 2025

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  Saudi Arabia’s New Murabba Development Company (NMDC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Alat, a Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed company, to explore the development and integration of technologies supporting the Mukaab project.

  The MoU also covers potential future technology needs across the wider New Murabba downtown development.

  “The collaboration focuses on developing innovative technologies for Mukaab by integrating advanced systems,” NMDC said in a statement issued by the official Saudi Press Agency.

  The agreement includes exploring vertical transportation solutions – such as elevators and escalators – to support mobility within the Mukaab and other New Murabba developments.

  The statement added that “the MoU will also explore optimal funding strategies for initial investments in hardware and research and development, while evaluating the feasibility of establishing production facilities within the kingdom”.

  This announcement follows other MoUs signed by NMDC in recent weeks. In July, it signed an MoU with South Korea’s Heerim Architects & Planners to explore additional design work for assets within the 14-square-kilometre New Murabba downtown project.

  Heerim will examine architectural concepts aligned with the project’s masterplan, focusing on anchor assets, linear parks and smart city features.

  Earlier in July, NMDC signed an MoU with another South Korean firm, Naver Cloud Corporation, to explore technological solutions for delivering the New Murabba downtown project.

  According to an official statement: “The three-year agreement covers exploring innovative technology and automation to support the delivery of New Murabba, including robotics, autonomous vehicles, a smart city platform and digital solutions for monitoring construction progress.”

  Also in July, NMDC announced the completion of excavation works for The Mukaab, the centrepiece of the overall development.

  The Mukaab is a Najdi-inspired landmark set to become one of the largest buildings in the world, standing 400 metres high, wide and long.

  Internally, it will feature a tower atop a spiral base, with 2 million square metres of floor space dedicated to hospitality. The structure will include commercial areas, cultural and tourist attractions, residential and hotel units, and recreational facilities.

  Downtown destination

  The New Murabba destination will have a total floor area of more than 25 million sq m and feature more than 104,000 residential units, 9,000 hotel rooms and over 980,000 sq m of retail space.

  The scheme will include 1.4 million sq m of office space, 620,000 sq m of leisure facilities and 1.8 million sq m of space dedicated to community facilities.

  The project will be developed around the concept of sustainability and will include green spaces and walking and cycling paths to promote active lifestyles and community activities.

  The living, working and entertainment facilities will be developed within a 15-minute walking radius. The area will use an internal transport system and will be about a 20-minute drive from the airport.

  The downtown area will feature a museum, a technology and design university, an immersive, multipurpose theatre, and more than 80 entertainment and cultural venues.

  

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  Yasir Iqbal
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  Saudi company in talks over Iraq chemicals project

  1 August 2025

  Saudi Arabia-based Ajyal is in talks with Iraq’s Ministry of Industry & Minerals to establish a petrochemicals plant in Basra, in southern Iraq.

  A recent meeting at the ministry’s headquarters, chaired by Minister Khaled Battal Al-Najm, brought together a delegation from Ajyal and ministry officials.

  The proposed complex would be built on the site of the State Company for Petrochemical Industries in Basra province.

  During the meeting, participants discussed the terms of the potential partnership and evaluated proposed mechanisms for supplying the project with feedstocks of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or alternative energy sources. Technical and legal considerations were also reviewed.

  Al-Najm emphasised the project’s strategic importance, calling it one of the ministry’s most promising initiatives to revitalise Iraq’s strategic industries and strengthen its industrial base.

  He called for continued negotiations and coordination with relevant parties to secure the requirements needed to advance the project.

  

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  Wil Crisp
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  Saudi Defence Ministry sets September deadline for headquarters

  1 August 2025

  

  Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has set a deadline of 30 September for contractors to submit commercial bids for a tender to build a new headquarters building, as part of its P-563 programme in Riyadh.

  The MoD issued the tender in April. MEED understands that technical bids were submitted in June.

  Located to the northwest of Riyadh, the P-563 programme includes the development of facilities and infrastructure to support the MoD’s broader initiatives under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy.

  It covers the construction of:

  • A new military city featuring the MoD headquarters, support and logistics facilities, a residential and commercial community, and space for future command centres
  • A National Defence University with a library, conference centre and academic buildings
  • A self-sustaining Joint Forces Command compound located approximately 50 kilometres from the military city

  The budget for the entire programme is expected to be around $10bn-$12bn.

  In September 2023, MEED reported that Spain-headquartered Typsa had won two contracts for the project.

  The first contract, worth $11.4m, includes data management, geographic information systems management, geotechnical reporting and the preparation of the phase one final traffic report. The contract duration is 270 days from the notice to proceed.

  The second contract, valued at $10.8m, involves preparing four conceptual masterplans for the P-563 site. It is set to last 255 days from the notice to proceed.

  These followed a $290m consultancy contract awarded to Typsa in March of the same year. The single-award task order covers a three-year base period, with an optional two-year extension.

  Typsa’s scope of work includes programme management planning, communication, change and quality management, and cost and schedule tracking.

  It also includes design requirements, codes, standards and submission requirements, programme guidance, study integration, risk analysis and management, design reviews and a programme of work breakdown plan.

  

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  Yasir Iqbal
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  Oman and Kuwait to jointly develop wind projects

  31 July 2025

  OQ Alternative Energy, a subsidiary of Oman’s state energy holding company OQ, has signed an agreement with Kuwait-based Naqaa Sustainable Energy to jointly develop 1,100MW of wind power projects across the wilayats of Duqm, Mahout and Sadah in Oman’s Dhofar and Al-Wusta governorates.

  The projects will use locally manufactured wind turbines from Mawarid Turbine, a company expected to be established in Duqm following a memorandum of cooperation signed between OQ and Mawarid in April.

  In May, MEED reported that OQ Alternative Energy will begin acquiring shares in Oman’s renewable energy independent power projects (IPPs), starting with the Ibri 3 solar scheme.

  “The direction seems to be for OQ Alternative Energy to own up to 25% shares in the upcoming solar and wind IPP projects in the sultanate,” a source familiar with the plans told MEED.

  Presently, private developers and investors own the total shares in such projects, similar to the existing structure in Saudi Arabia.

  With this policy change, Oman will now be more closely aligned with the existing project structure in the UAE, where either Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) or the state utility, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa), owns stakes in these projects.

  

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  Indrajit Sen
• 
  Masdar to divest stake in Sharjah waste-to-energy project

  31 July 2025

  Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Tadweer Group to divest its stake in the waste-to-energy project in Sharjah, subject to customary closing conditions.

  Sharjah-based Beeah Group is the other stakeholder in the project – the first of its kind in the UAE. The facility can treat over 300,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of municipal solid waste, or 37.5 tonnes an hour, and generate 30MW of clean energy.

  After closing, Beeah and Tadweer will partner in the Emirates Waste-to-Energy joint venture operating the Sharjah facility, commissioned in 2022.

  The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development provided a $33m concessionary loan for the Sharjah waste-to-energy plant in 2018.

  In January, Emirates Waste-to-Energy announced the plant’s second phase.

  The expansion will nearly double the plant’s annual output to 60MW, processing up to 600,000 t/y of hard-to-recycle waste and displacing up to 1 million t/y of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

  Upon completion of phase two, the plant will generate enough power to supply nearly 60,000 homes annually, Beeah and Masdar said in a January joint statement. This will help meet rising energy demand from Sharjah’s growing population and development.

  Phase two will boost landfill diversion in Sharjah, building on the current 90% landfill diversion rate.

  The facility complements Beeah’s 4-square-kilometre integrated waste management complex, which includes over 10 specialised recycling facilities.

  Remaining hard-to-recycle waste is sent to the Sharjah waste-to-energy plant, closing the loop and diverting nearly 300,000 tonnes from landfill.

  ALSO READ: Sharjah’s Beeah moves into real estate with Khalid bin Sultan City

  

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  Indrajit Sen