The local Nesma & Partners has been awarded a $1.75bn contract from the Umm al-Qura for Development & Construction Company for infrastructure work on the King Abdul Aziz Road (KAAR) in Mecca.

The project is located in the western part of the city, extending 3,650 metres from the western entrance of the Grand Mosque leading to the Jabal Omar scheme.

The infrastructure work involves building roads and general infrastructure for the scheme. The road works involve building 9.5 kilometres of roads, together with intersections and a main road with four lanes in each direction, and a central pedestrian boulevard linking to the Haram area.

There are also more than 3,500 existing residential and commercial properties on the site that need to be demolished to make way for the scheme. Some 500 properties have already been knocked down. The remaining properties will be demolished in phases.

The project manager is the local office of KEO International Consultants. The local ACES and the UK’s Atkins prepared designs for the project.

Umm al-Qura for Development & Construction Company is a joint stock firm formed by a royal decree in 2005 to develop, construct and operate the KAAR development project.