meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Rise in PPPs reflects Saudi budgetary pragmatism

7 March 2025

 

Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

The value of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts in Saudi Arabia has risen sharply over the past two years as the government seeks to develop projects through the private sector and diversify funding sources.

According to MEED Projects data, in 2023, the value of PPP concession contracts hit an all-time high of $28.2bn, equivalent to more than 23% of the total value of all project contracts awarded that year. Although that figure fell to 18.3% last year, it was still far higher than the historical average in the kingdom.


Source: MEED Projects

The figures are even starker when taking only government spending into account. In 2023, the value of signed PPP contracts totalled more than a third of the value of government or government-related projects awarded in 2023 and more than a quarter last year. This is compared to the average of 15.6% between 2019 and 2022, and just 3.5% recorded in 2018. 

Government contracts include awards made by ministries, municipalities and royal commissions, in addition to state-funded key project clients such as Saudi Water Authority, the National Housing Company and Jeddah Airports Company. Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiaries such as Neom, the National Water Company and Rua Al-Madinah are also included.

Reducing spending

The government increasingly views the development of projects through the PPP framework as a means of delivering strategic schemes like power and desalination plants off-balance sheet using private sector funding, thereby reducing its capital expenditure requirements. 

This has been particularly important as Riyadh’s financing commitments for its gigaprojects and infrastructure programmes have soared in line with its Saudi 2030 Vision. New contract awards overall in the kingdom reached $149bn, the highest ever recorded by a single country in the region and one of the largest globally.


*Government contracts include awards made by ministries, municipalities and royal commissions, in addition to state-managed key project clients such as Saudi Electricity Company, the National Housing Company and Jeddah Airports Company. Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiaries like Neom and Rua Al-Madinah are also included. Capital expenditure by Saudi Aramco is excluded from the analysis | Source: MEED Projects

Beyond utilities

PPPs have been used in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region for over two decades, but have been mainly limited to power generation and water desalination plants, where the developer benefits from guaranteed take-or-pay power-purchase agreements that eliminate demand risk.

However, over the past three years, the government has successfully implemented PPPs in a number of new sectors, including education and healthcare, to finance, build and operate schools and hospitals. Forthcoming PPP projects include the estimated $2.5bn Asir-Jizan highway, which would be the first road concession in the GCC, and the multibillion-dollar contract to develop the expansion of Abha International airport.

The NCP is expected to add dozens more PPPs to its future pipeline to relieve the state’s financial burden and to stimulate the private sector’s involvement in the local projects market 

Outside the utilities sector, the body responsible for pushing the PPP agenda is the National Centre for Privatisation (NCP). It has more than 170 PPPs in the pipeline, covering long-term concession agreements in projects as diverse as municipal laboratories, television and radio tower infrastructure, court complexes and logistics zones.

As capital expenditure continues to increase, the NCP is expected to add dozens more PPPs to its future pipeline to relieve the state’s financial burden and to stimulate the private sector’s involvement in the local projects market.

Gigaproject delivery

The gigaproject development companies will likely follow a similar path. Off-grid developers Neom and Red Sea Global have both signed utilities concessions with the private sector for their power, desalination, water treatment and district cooling requirements, with the former also contracting companies to build and operate labour accommodation.

Going forward, other PIF developer subsidiaries like New Murabba Development Company (NMDC), Diriyah Company, Roshn Group and King Salman International Airport Development Company are attempting to harness the private sector for a number of their project components. 

NMDC, for example, will seek companies over the next five years to finance and operate its water treatment, power, district cooling, waste collection, telecommunication, secondary roads, street lighting, social infrastructure and EV charging infrastructure requirements under its partnership strategy. 

The use of PPP contractual frameworks will be critical to ensure delivery of the gigaprojects as soaring construction costs have resulted in delays to the programme and put a strain on the PIF and government’s finances. 

Growing appetite

Power and water production schemes aside, it remains to be seen whether the private sector and banks will have the appetite to take on the investment risk these projects will entail, especially if they do not come with government guarantees, explicit or otherwise.

However, the experience to date suggests that there is a big appetite in the private sector – at least locally – to take on an expanded role in absorbing some of the state’s financing burden. Whether this will remain the case as the PPP pipeline continues to grow will be key to Saudi Arabia’s project and 2030 Vision ambitions.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13466076/main.gif
Edward James

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Brent hits $112 a barrel following Saudi oil field attack

    22 October 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Oil prices climbed more than 3% on 22 October after a drone targeting Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development killed two people and injured two others a day earlier, adding to concerns over energy supplies as attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure intensified.

    Global benchmark Brent crude hit $112.30 in early trading on 22 October, but later pared gains and was trading at $111.52 a barrel as of 11am GST.

    Three residents and a Saudi citizen were killed in two separate incidents in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on 21 October, authorities said, as attacks on the kingdom accelerated following an escalation of hostilities with the Iran-backed Houthi group in neighbouring Yemen.

    Overnight, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen announced that it had intercepted and destroyed four drones in the Eastern Province.

    Saudi air defences intercepted a drone attempting to target a processing facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field development on the morning of 21 October, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

    The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) carried a statement quoting an energy ministry official as saying the attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two residents – a Filipino and a Nepali – and injuries to two others – an Indian and a Pakistani – after debris fell due to the interception.

    Following the interception, a fire broke out in a vehicle belonging to a contractor at the Shaybah oil field, outside the facility’s perimeter, with no impact on operations.

    Dammam airport attack

    Separately, a Houthi attack on King Fahd International airport in Dammam on the evening of 21 October killed an Indian resident and a Saudi citizen.

    Eight people were also injured in the attack, including a Saudi national, a Nepali, and two nationals each from India, Yemen and Bangladesh. Injuries ranged from minor to critical, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) said the next day.

    “The attack also caused property damage, the extent of which is currently being assessed. Further updates will be provided,” Gaca said, adding that operations had since resumed at Dammam airport.

    Saudi Arabia has come under sustained attack from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel group in October, including strikes on Riyadh’s international airport in what authorities described as the kingdom’s deadliest incidents in years, as the war with the group escalates.

    The Houthi militias also struck an administrative building at Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, in the Eastern Province, on 13 October, resulting in a limited fire.

    The Houthi rebels opened a new front in the regional war between Iran and the US in mid-July, when they breached a four-year truce with Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014, and started attacking Saudi vessels and Aramco energy assets along the Red Sea, including repeated strikes on the Jizan refinery.

    The 1,200-kilometre East-West pipeline operated by Aramco was also hit by Houthi missiles in September, and once directly by Iran in April.

    The East-West pipeline transports crude from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province oil fields to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu on the kingdom’s west coast. It has a pumping capacity of 7 million barrels a day.

    Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the East-West pipeline to bypass the volatile Strait of Hormuz maritime chokepoint and ship crude from its Red Sea coast. Riyadh has increasingly used the line to route exports away from Hormuz since the US-Iran conflict began on 28 February – a tactical advantage most of its Gulf neighbours lack.

    Aramco resumed crude exports via the pipeline at the start of October.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20841984/main.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Riyadh awards $301m Sheikh Jaber Road contract

    22 October 2026

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded an estimated SR1.13bn ($301m) contract to local firm Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company to upgrade a section of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Road in the capital.

    The project covers the construction of an urban road about 3 kilometres (km) long, with a right-of-way width of about 120 metres.

    The scope of work includes the delivery of three interchanges featuring post-tensioned, voided-slab concrete bridges; a cut-and-cover tunnel; and three box culverts designated IC02, IC03 and IC04.

    The contract also encompasses pumping and lifting stations, stormwater drainage and irrigation networks, earthworks, asphalt paving, roadway lighting, power distribution systems, mechanically stabilised earth retaining walls and landscaping works.

    The award forms part of RCRC’s wider programme to upgrade Riyadh’s arterial road network, decongest critical bottlenecks and expand transportation capacity in the city ahead of Expo 2030 and the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

    The contract award follows RCRC’s appointment in May of a joint venture of Riyadh-based Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company and Turkiye’s IC Ictas for an estimated SR5bn ($1.3bn) contract to construct another section of Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah Road.

    That project covers 12km from Khurais Road to Al-Thumama Road and is a component of Riyadh’s Second Eastern Ring Road scheme.

    Alomaier Trading & Contracting Company has secured several contracts in recent months.

    In August, Saudi Arabian Railways awarded the contractor an estimated SR4bn-plus ($1.1bn) contract to add a second track to the first section of the existing phosphate railway in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

    The railway package covers about 100km between AZ1/Nariyah Yard and Ras Al-Khair. Works include track doubling, alignment modifications, utility bridges, culvert widening, hydrological structures, conversion of the AZ1 siding into a mainline track, and enabling works for signalling and telecommunications systems.

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

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20833960/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Dewa International signs energy and infrastructure MoUs

    22 October 2026

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s (Dewa) new development arm, Dewa International, has signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with international partners to explore investment and project development opportunities in the energy, water and infrastructure sectors.

    The agreements, signed during Dubai’s Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (Wetex 2026), follow the launch of the wholly owned subsidiary in June, as reported by MEED.

    At the time, the utility said the arm would be used to export Dubai’s energy and water infrastructure model, with a focus on developing conventional and clean energy projects for global markets.

    At Wetex, Dewa International signed an MoU with France’s EDF Power Solutions to explore potential joint participation in solar, wind, battery energy storage and pumped-storage hydropower projects.

    A separate agreement with China Energy International Group explores the company’s potential role as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner for major energy, water and infrastructure projects. The MoU also covers cooperation in project development and EPC services.

    A further agreement with UK-based Capital Dynamics focuses on potential joint investments in operational clean energy assets in Europe. The parties will also explore establishing an investment vehicle for future clean energy infrastructure investments.

    Dewa International also signed a fourth agreement with Mumbai-Headquartered Tata Consultancy Services, exploring the company’s potential role as a technical consultancy partner. The scope covers technology strategy, information technology and operational technology integration, and asset performance management solutions.

    Dewa currently has almost $7bn-worth of power and water projects under execution across the UAE, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

    Its flagship Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world. The utility is currently advancing the project’s seventh phase, with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) recently submitting the lowest bid for the project, as exclusively reported by MEED.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20828111/main0128.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies to develop Lebanon solar plant

    22 October 2026

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    State-owned QatarEnergy and France’s TotalEnergies have agreed to jointly develop a solar power plant in Lebanon.

    The agreement was announced on 16 October during the Qatari prime minister’s official visit to Beirut, where he held a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

    According to a statement published by the Lebanese Prime Minister's Office, the plant will be an initial project under a broader framework for energy cooperation between Qatar and Lebanon. Its capacity, location, investment value and implementation schedule have yet to be disclosed.

    Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani said: “The aim is to develop a major investment project that benefits the Lebanese economy, as well as the Qatari companies and entities participating in it.”

    Separately, Salam said the Lebanese and Qatari governments were “close to reaching an agreement” to rehabilitate, develop and modernise Lebanon’s electricity-generation infrastructure.

    The proposed project would cover the country’s various electricity-generation sources and associated infrastructure, aiming to improve the reliability of electricity supplies and reduce costs.

    The project would use a build, operate and transfer model, under which Qatari entities would finance, implement and operate the facilities without upfront investment costs for the Lebanese treasury, Salam said.

    Salam also said the proposal was being prepared with support from the International Finance Corporation, and that he hoped to present it to the Lebanese government soon.

    The wider initiative is intended to address Lebanon’s longstanding electricity-generation shortfall and overcome financing constraints that have delayed infrastructure projects in the sector.

    As MEED previously reported, the Lebanese government continues to advance broader reforms to the country’s electricity sector.

    In August, Lebanon’s Electricity Regulatory Authority invited private sector companies to submit expressions of interest (EoIs) for several upcoming power-generation projects.

    The EoIs cover up to five grid-connected solar photovoltaic projects with a combined installed capacity of 350 megawatts-peak. The projects are also expected to include battery energy storage systems with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatt-hours. 

    The regulator is also seeking proposals for distributed dual-fired thermal power plants with net capacities of 20MW-100MW.

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

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20827458/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Deal signed for 1,620-home Baghdad residential scheme

    22 October 2026

    Iraq’s National Investment Commission (NIC) has signed an investment contract with local developer Al-Ab’ad Al-Dhahabiya for Investment & Real Estate Development to construct the Abraaj Al-Ameriya residential project in Baghdad.

    The development will comprise 1,620 housing units in the Ameriya district of the capital, located behind the American University of Baghdad.

    Al-Ab’ad Al-Dhahabiya is a subsidiary of Iraq-based Al-Kamil Holding Group.

    The signing was attended by NIC chairman Adel Dakhil Muhammad Al-Yasiri and deputy chairman Salar Muhammad Amin, in addition to a delegation from Al-Kamil Holding Group led by chairman Mustafa Kamil Abboud and Al-Ab’ad Al-Dhahabiya managing director Muhannad Kamil Abboud.

    The project forms part of Iraq’s broader programme to engage private sector developers and international investors to address a nationwide housing deficit of an estimated 3 million units through new residential compounds and masterplanned satellite cities.

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

    Industry and logistics drive development at Neom; Saudi Arabia’s investment priorities realign amid conflict; MEED’s 2026 power developer ranking.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the October 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/20809147/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal