Bids in for Jeddah hub expansion

02 August 2002

Seven companies submitted bids on 31 July for the project management consultancy (PMC) contract for the expansion of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The companies are Bechtel, CH2M Hill, Parsons International, Parsons Brinckerhoff Internationaland Turner International, all of the US, the UK's Bovis Land Leaseand the Netherlands' DHV Consultants. An award is expected in September, and tenders for the construction work are expected at the beginning of 2003, project sources say (MEED 5:7:02).

The project will involve the construction of two new passenger terminals for international and domestic flights alongside the existing south terminal, which is run by Saudi Arabian Airlines. Other work involves construction of a moveable docking pier with 32 passenger gangways and construction of new car parks. The airport's handling capacity will be expanded to 21 million passengers a year from 16 million.

A key issue to be addressed by the project manager is financing. The client, the Presidency of Civil Aviation, had originally proposed tendering the expansion programme as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, but is now understood to favour a straightforward engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model. The designer is NACOof the Netherlands.

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