meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Riyadh reins in spending

24 May 2024

 

Register for MEED's guest programme 

On the surface, it feels like business as usual in Saudi Arabia as new projects continue to be launched.

On 8 May, designs for another futuristic project at Neom’s Gulf of Aqaba were released with slick computer-generated imagery. Known as Jaumur (pictured), it includes the development of a mixed-use community featuring 1,200 residential units and two hotels offering 350 rooms. The most eye-catching part of the project is at the marina, which will have a 1.5-kilometre aerofoil that will rise above the yacht berths.

Beneath the surface, a consensus is emerging that the kingdom’s projects market is in the midst of a recalibration as spending is reined in.

The challenge for Riyadh over the next few years will be balancing the delivery of its ambitions with the reality of its financial capabilities.

The first public sign that things were changing came in December 2023, when Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan told reporters at the launch of the 2024 budget that the delivery of some of the projects included in the Saudi Vision 2030 plan may be delayed to avoid pressure on the economy.

Tightening the purse strings

The ministry-level decision is trickling down as individual development companies are not getting their full budgets approved. “Our firm is working on almost all of the major projects in Saudi Arabia in some capacity,” says an international consultant. “The feedback we are getting is that budget spending for 2024 has been reduced by about 30% on average.”

Many of these delivery companies are subsidiaries of sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has taken a leading role in transforming the kingdom’s economy over the past eight years with development schemes including its five official gigaprojects, Neom, Roshn, Red Sea Global (RSG), Qiddiya and Diriyah.

The reports of budget cuts have coincided with a drop in contract awards. According to MEED’s Gigaprojects Tracker, there has been a sharp decline in the value of contracts awarded by the five official gigaprojects this year. 

In April, they awarded $166m of work, down from $271m in March and $509m in February. The total in January was $5.56bn, largely due to the $4.7bn contract awarded to the local Webuild for the construction of dams at the Trojena mountain resort in Neom.

The reports of budget cuts have coincided with a drop in contract awards

Funding options

The budget cuts are just part of the message, says the consultant. The delivery companies are being told to find external investment to deliver their projects, and there are already signs of this happening. The clearest came in late April, when Neom announced a $2.7bn revolving credit facility from nine local banks to cater to the project’s short-term financing requirements.

In a statement, Neom CEO Nadhmi Nasser highlighted the project’s drive to find new sources of funding. “As Neom continues to gather pace, this new credit facility, backed by Saudi Arabia’s leading financial institutions, is a natural fit within our wider strategy for funding. We continue to explore a variety of funding sources as we deliver transformational infrastructure assets while supporting the wider Vision 2030 programme,” he said. 

In a research note following the deal, London-based Capital Economics said: “While this does take some of the onus away from the government and Public Investment Fund, it is increasingly using resources that could be used more productively in the private non-oil sector.”

Capital Economics also noted that the facility adds to the growing share of commercial banks’ lending to the public sector. Since 2015, this share has increased from 7% to 22% in March 2024.

Another solution for development companies is deploying public-private partnerships (PPPs) to deliver infrastructure and utilities. This is attractive because PPPs reduce the initial capital expenditure required for a project. 

RSG has already pursued this route for The Red Sea Project and Amaala; other development companies are exploring the PPP avenue for their projects.

Real estate investment is another option. There is an expectation that Riyadh will introduce a foreign ownership law that could turbocharge the market as a similar law did for Dubai in the early 2000s. 

There are already examples of real estate investment deals being done, including the National Housing Company with Spain’s Urbas Group for housing in Riyadh, RSG with Kingdom Holding Company for hotels, and King Salman with a real estate development fund.

PPP offers budget and efficiency routes

Prioritising projects

As projects in the kingdom are developed differently, the challenge for the construction industry will be identifying which of the many schemes that aim to transform the Saudi economy are a top priority.

Much will depend on the success of the investment drive. The most likely projects to go ahead are those linked to global events with immovable deadlines. Experience across the region over the past decade has shown that even if construction elsewhere slowed down, construction for Expo 2020 in Dubai and the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar continued regardless. 

“For Saudi Arabia, there are three major events: the Asian Winter Games in 2029, Expo 2030 and World Cup 2034. They will be the obvious priorities,” says the international consultant.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11816519/main.gif
Colin Foreman

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

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Iranian drones hit Kuwait International airport’s Terminal 1

    3 June 2026

    Kuwait International airport was struck by a fresh wave of hostile drone attacks on 3 June. The drones caused significant structural damage to Terminal 1 and wounded several individuals.

    Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, official spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, blamed the strikes on “criminal Iranian aggression”. He confirmed that the injured had been evacuated for medical care and stated that the armed forces remain in a state of complete readiness to secure the state.

    The incident is the third major drone strike on the hub in recent months. On 1 April, a drone strike hit fuel tanks managed by Kuwait Aviation Fuelling Company, sparking massive fires. On March 28, another multi-drone raid severely damaged the airport’s primary radar systems.

    The airport is being expanded with the construction of a new terminal, and works on the project are expected to be completed by 2027. It consists of three packages.

    These are:

    • Package 1: Main works – $4,329m
    • Package 2: Multistorey car park building, connection roads, bridges and landscaping works – $550m
    • Package 3: Aircraft parking, runways and service buildings – $950m

    Turkiye’s Limak Holding is executing the main works.

    The terminal building was designed by Foster+Partners and Gulf Consult.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17089683/main.gif
    Colin Foreman
  • Consortium signs PPA for Taweelah C power plant

    3 June 2026

    Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) has confirmed it has signed a power-purchase agreement (PPA) with a developer consortium for the Taweelah C independent power producer (IPP) project.

    The agreement, which will run through to 2050, was signed with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), Al-Jomaih Energy & Water Company (Saudi Arabia) and Sembcorp Industries (Singapore), the utility said in a statement.

    Taqa will own a 60% stake in the project, with the international consortium holding 40%. The ADX-listed company will also own 40% of the project’s operations and maintenance company, while the international consortium will own 60%.

    Last month, MEED exclusively revealed that the winning consortium had been selected for the project, with the PPA initially expected to be signed in mid-May.

    It is understood that China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

    The combined-cycle gas turbine plant will have a capacity of about 2.5GW. It will be located at the Al-Taweelah power and desalination complex, about 50 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi city.

    Taweelah C is part of Ewec’s wider programme to support the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035.

    Ewec plans to raise solar power capacity to 18GW and wind capacity to 2.6GW by 2035, while reducing the carbon intensity of its power generation by more than half compared with 2019.

    The Taweelah C IPP is now expected to start commercial operations in 2029. The facility had previously been scheduled to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2028.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17089163/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Local contractor wins Oman water transmission contract

    3 June 2026

     

    Local contractor Al-Jesr United has won the main engineering, procurement and construction contract to reinforce Oman’s Sur water transmission system.

    The contract, awarded by state-owned utility Nama Water Services (NWS), forms part of a project to improve the reliability of potable water supply to Sur, a coastal city about 200 kilometres southeast of Muscat.

    The scheme, estimated to cost $80m, is designed to strengthen the network’s resilience during peak-demand periods and emergencies.

    The scope of work includes upgrading the pumps at the Sur DP Pump Station with variable frequency drive units and replacing ductile iron pipes and fittings within the facility. It also covers about 17km of new transmission pipelines.

    According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, at least five local firms submitted commercial bids for the contract, which was tendered in August 2025.

    These include:

    • Al-Jesr United
    • Al-Rafaa Trading & Contracting
    • Gulf Petrochemical Services & Trading
    • Professionals Trading
    • Sarooj Construction Company

    In June 2024, NWS awarded a $1.3m contract for the project’s design and construction supervision to Muscat-headquartered Ibn Khaldun Almadaen Engineering Consultants.

    Sur is home to one of the sultanate’s key desalination plants, which supplies potable water to communities across eastern Oman. 

    The water transmission project will support network expansion in areas such as Al-Aigah and Ahiae, as the existing ductile iron pipeline serving Wilayat Sur is no longer sufficient to meet current and future demand.

    Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2026 and take about two years to complete.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17088454/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Syria to tender gas plant contract

    3 June 2026

     

    Syria is preparing to tender a project to rehabilitate the Conoco gas plant in Deir ez-Zor province in the east of the country within the next 10 weeks, according to a document published by the US-Syria Business Council.

    The gas plant was reclaimed by Syria’s military during an offensive in January this year.

    It is Syria’s largest gas plant, but is severely damaged and cannot be operated in its current condition.

    Before the country’s civil war, it processed 13 million cubic metres of gas a day.

    The US-based companies ConocoPhillips and Novaterra signed a memorandum of understanding with the state-owned Syria Petroleum Company (SPC) to restore the facility in November last year.

    Syria is currently in the midst of a push to ramp up oil and gas production and establish itself as a regional energy hub.

    Earlier this year, Yousef Qiblawy, chief executive of SPC, said that his organisation was aiming to double national oil production before 2027 and boost output to 800,000 barrels a day by the end of 2029, not including offshore production.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17088320/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • AD Ports enters South America with $835m Brazil deal

    3 June 2026

    Abu Dhabi-listed AD Ports Group has entered the South American market by agreeing to acquire a majority stake in Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura (CLI), Brazil’s leading independent agri-bulk port terminal operator, for an enterprise value of $835m.

    The transaction represents AD Ports’ largest acquisition to date, surpassing its $720m purchase of Spain’s Noatum in 2023, and its $510m purchase of a 51% stake in Dubai-based Global Feeder Shipping in early 2024.

    Under the terms of the agreement, AD Ports will acquire CLI from joint owners Macquarie Asset Management and IG4 Capital. CLI operates two major agri-bulk export terminals under long-term concessions: CLI Norte at the Port of Itaqui, which is 100% owned by CLI, and CLI Sul at the Port of Santos, which is 80% owned. In 2025, CLI handled 17 million tonnes of cargo, generating $178m in revenue and profits of $98m.

    The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, aligns with AD Ports’ strategy to expand its agrifood vertical. The group has recently secured similar international assets, including a 30-year concession at Jordan’s Aqaba multipurpose port, a $30m investment in Kazakhstan’s Sarzha Grain Terminal, and a clean bulk facility development at Pakistan’s Karachi Port.

    The acquisition also reflects broader economic ties between the UAE and Brazil, where UAE investments total about $5bn. The UAE is currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the Mercosur trading bloc, which includes Brazil.

    The major capital deployment follows a period of significant financial growth and international expansion for the Abu Dhabi operator, which is 75.42% owned by sovereign wealth fund ADQ. AD Ports reported record results for 2025, with revenue rising 20% year-on-year to AED20.77bn ($5.66bn) and net profit increasing 16% to AED2.07bn.

    According to its 2025 annual report, the group plans to invest AED2.45bn in port infrastructure development during 2026 alone, alongside AED1.3bn for liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas storage terminals between 2026 and 2028. To fund higher-return projects and optimise its balance sheet, AD Ports launched an asset monetisation programme in late 2025 targeting the recycling of AED4.6bn of capital.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/17087945/main.jpg
    Colin Foreman