Saudi Aramco has awarded China Harbour Engineering Company a SAR344m ($91m) contract for the construction of a commercial port at Jizan Economic City, located southwest of Saudi Arabia.

The contract entails the construction of a breakwater structure and three wharfs, according to a source familiar with the project.

The project is to be executed within two years.

Other firms that have submitted an offer are understood to include Van Oord and Royal Boskalis Westminster, both of the Netherlands.

Saudi Aramco’s Jizan Refinery and Terminal lies at the core of the Jizan Economic City, which aims to transform the kingdom’s southwest region into a commercial and industrial hub along the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.

Jizan is also home to a regional airport. Construction work on a new airport was discontinued in early 2016 after the aviation regulator, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, was notified by Saudi Aramco that the location may present an opportunity for oil and gas exploration activity.

Saudi Aramco took over the development of the 102 square kilometre Jizan Economic City  in 2010.