Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (Gaca) has invited contractors to submit bids for the contract to expand the existing terminals 3 and 4 at Riyadh’s King Khalid International airport.

Gaca has set an initial deadline of 27 February 2014 for prequalified firms to submit prices for the construction scheme.

The design and build contract will involve the expansion of Terminal 3 and the currently unused Terminal 4, as well as additional landside work and concourses. The work will also involve the construction of aircraft aprons and stands, airport systems installations, and new utilities and services.

In February, the local arm of US-based Aecom, Aecom Arabia, was appointed to project manage the expansion scheme. The work aims to increase the airport’s annual capacity to 24 million passengers from the current 14 million.

In May, Gaca awarded the joint venture of Turkey’s TAV and the local Al-Arrab Contracting Company the estimated SR1.5bn ($400m) contract to build the new Terminal 5 building at King Khalid International.

In July 2012, the local Al-Mabani General Contractors was awarded an estimated SR219.5m ($58.5m) contract to build a new apron at terminals 3 and 4.

King Khalid International is located about 35 kilometres north of the capital. The Riyadh project is part of Gaca’s programme to upgrade and expand the kingdom’s airport infrastructure.

In June, Gaca received bids from 17 groups for the contract to build the new King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jizan. The scheme will involve building a three-storey passenger terminal, a control tower, air cargo zones and other facilities. The terminal will have 10 gates and a VIP lounge.

A consortium of the local Saudi Lebanese Modern Construction Company, the local Safari and Safari & Salmoc and the local Al-Subaie submitted the low bid of SR2.57bn ($685m). This was 7 per cent less than the SR2.76bn price submitted by the second-lowest bidder, the local Saudi Pan Kingdom Company (Sapac).

Gaca has also invited contractors to submit bids for the contract to build a 5-million-passenger capacity terminal for the new Abha airport, which is located in the southern province of Asir.

The new terminal will cover a total area of 80,000 square metres and will contain 21 passenger gates. In addition to the terminal building, the contract will involve building other airport infrastructure, including a control tower, car parks and facilities such as mosques.