Binladin and ABV Rock frontrunners for $6bn medical cities

06 September 2011

Medical cities will be located in Riyadh and Jeddah

The local Saudi Binladin Group and the local ABV Rock Group are frontrunners to win contracts to build two medical cities worth an estimated total of SR25bn ($6.7bn).

The contracts are two of the largest construction deals to be tendered in 2011 and form part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to develop its healthcare infrastructure.

GCC medical project awards
2006$1.3bn
2007$1.9bn
2008$2.1bn
2009$0.6bn
2010$4bn
Source: Meed Projects

The two contractors are expected to win the deals to build the Security Forces Medical Cities for the Interior Ministry in Riyadh and Jeddah. ABV Rock will be appointed to build the Riyadh facility and Saudi Binladin will be selected to build the Jeddah development, according to sources in the Kingdom.

The Interior Ministry received bids from 10 contractors on 7 August. The other bidders included local companies Al-Arrab Contracting Company, Al-Yamama, El-Seif Engineering Contracting Company and Saudi Oger.

The scope of work will include the construction and fit-out of medical complexes, which will each have a total built-up area of 1.3 million square metres.

The two medical cities will have the same design and will both include three hospitals and all related medical and residential facilities. The medical facilities will have a total built-up area of about 400,000 sq m.

Each complex will also contain academic and clinical centres, as well as a research centre. The residential villas and apartments will have a total built-up area of about 500,000 sq m. The developments are also planned to have office buildings and service stations. The medical complexes will have about 200,000 sq m of car parking.

The consultant for both schemes is the local office of Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

The Medical Cities are part of the kingdom’s efforts to expand and upgrade its healthcare infrastructure, which is being put under increasing pressure by rapid population growth. Saudi Arabia’s 2011 budget sets aside $18.3bn for health and social affairs. In addition to the 120 new hospital projects under construction at the start of the year, the kingdom is planning to start building work on 12 new hospitals in 2011.

In July, Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry invited contractors to submit expressions of interest for the main construction package on a major hospital expansion project at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah (MEED 24:7:11).

The main component of the expansion project will involve the construction of two patient towers, 15 and 18 storeys high, and a 24-storey research and academic affairs centre. The new structures will contain 30 operating theatres, 150 intensive care units, a cardiology clinic, neurology clinic, outpatient clinics and emergency treatment facilities.

The scheme will also involve the construction of a 25,000 sq m Oncology Centre and a 25,000 sq m medical support facilities building. The project will also involve the construction of car parking facilities for more than 1,000 cars.

The expansion scheme was designed by the local Care RTKL and Saudi Diyar Consultants. The project manager for the construction programme is US-based Vanir Construction Management.

In July, contractors submitted bids for an expansion project at the King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh. Contractors are also awaiting tenders for a large hospital project in Dammam.

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