Contractors are still waiting for an award on two medical city projects in Saudi Arabia worth an estimated total of SR25bn ($6.7bn).

MEED reported in September that the local Saudi Binladin Group and local ABV Rock Group are frontrunners to win contracts to build the schemes.

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. However, as of 10 January, there was still no contract award on the schemes.

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 contracts were two of the largest construction deals to be tendered in 2011 and form part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to develop its healthcare infrastructure, which is being put under increasing pressure by rapid population growth.

Contractors in the kingdom are also waiting for an estimated $1.2bn new hospital to be tendered in Dammam, which is expected to be tendered by the end of the second quarter in 2012.

The planned new King Fahad Specialist Hospital will consist of seven specialised medical centres and will cover a total area of 700,000 sq m. The hospital will have a capacity of 1,500 beds and in addition to the medical centres, the development will contain a residential complex, research centre and an international academy.

The group set up to manage the King Fahad Specialist Hospital will be supervised by the Health Ministry .