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Riyadh awards $1bn cable bridge contract

5 June 2024

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Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded an estimated SR4bn ($1bn) design-and-build contract to upgrade the Wadi Laban cable bridge in Riyadh.

The contract was awarded to the joint venture of Turkish contracting firm IC Ictas and Riyadh-based Al Rashid Trading & Contracting Company.

The planned project aims to ease traffic congestion around the western ring road in the area extending from Ibn-Hazm Road to Jeddah Road. The contract also covers the construction of an intersection at Jeddah Road.

RCRC received the main contract bids in January this year.

The construction of the bridge originally began in August 1993 and was completed in 1997.

The existing bridge is 763 metres long and 35 metres wide, with two 14-metre-wide carriageways. 

Lebanon’s Dar Al Handasah initially designed the bridge and Greek contractor Archirodon carried out the construction.

In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said the population of Riyadh would double to 15-20 million people by 2030. 

He directed government entities to work closely with the RCRC to prepare the city’s development strategy.

The RCRC’s major projects include Riyadh Metro, Riyadh Art, Sports Boulevard, King Salman International Park, Green Riyadh and the Diriyah Gate project.

In November last year, Riyadh was selected to host the Expo 2030 event. 

Last year, Saudi Arabia announced that it plans to invest $7.8bn in Expo 2030. The figure was revealed on 20 June in Paris at the 172nd general assembly of the expo organising body, the Bureau International des Expositions.

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Yasir Iqbal

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