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Saudi Arabia to seek airport PPP interest

29 November 2023

Saudi Arabia’s Matarat Holding Company, through the National Centre for Privatisation and PPP (NCP), is expected to seek interest from companies for the contract to develop and operate a new terminal at Abha International airport.

The project will be the kingdom's third airport public-private partnership (PPP) project, following the Hajj terminal at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International airport and the  $1.2bn Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International airport in Medina.

According to an industry source, the expression of interest request for the new Abha International airport passenger terminal could be issued by the end of the year or in early 2024.

The project entails the design, finance, construction and operation of a greenfield terminal at the airport.

In October, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud announced a masterplan for the expansion of the new Abha International airport, which is located in Asir province near the Red Sea in southwest Saudi Arabia.

Following the announcement, Matarat announced that the UK-based Foster & Partners had won the design competition for the new terminal PPP project.

Higher capacity

The first phase of the project, set for completion in 2028, will increase the airport terminal area from 10,500 square metres to 65,000 sq m.

The scope also includes the construction of passenger boarding bridges, self-service facilities and parking facilities.

According to Matarat, the Abha airport’s capacity will increase to accommodate over 13 million passengers annually, a tenfold rise from the current 1.5 million capacity.

When completed, the airport will handle more than 90,000 flights a year, up from 30,000 flights at present.

The new airport is also expected to feature 20 gates and 41 check-in counters with seven new self-service check-in counters.

The contract type is the build-transfer-operate (BTO) model and the project duration is 30 years.

The existing terminal at the airport, which catered to 4.4 million passengers in 2019, will be closed down once the new terminal is complete.

Matarat's transaction advisory team for the project comprises UK-headquartered Deloitte as financial adviser, ALG as technical adviser, and London-based Ashurst as legal adviser.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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