Dubai-based contractor Drake & Scull International (DSI) has won a SR261m ($69.5m) mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) contract for the King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Under the contract, DSI will provide turnkey MEP solutions for the National Institute of Neurosciences and the cancer and cardiac centres at the medical city.

DSI said it signed a joint venture agreement with Habtoor Leighton Specon to undertake the works for a total value of SR522m, of which its share will be 50 per cent.

Constructed between 1984 and 1995, the SR2.3bn King Fahad Medical City complex is one of the largest healthcare facilities in the kingdom, with a total built-up area of 234,000 square metres and a current capacity of 1,095 beds.

The complex is part of the government’s plans to build several medical cities to expand its healthcare infrastructure to cope with the country’s rapid population growth.

DSI said the King Fahad Medical City contract is a milestone in its growing portfolio of healthcare projects in KSA, which also includes a new healthcare facility in the eastern province of Damman, as well as the Tabarjal Hospital, Mina Hospital and Health College. 

Last month, DSI reported a 47 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2013, compared with the same period last year. The company has secured more than AED2bn ($544m) of new contracts so far this year from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. Its total order backlog is AED9bn.

DSI is not the only contractor benefiting from Saudi Arabia’s massive investment in healthcare. The joint venture of UAE-based Arabtec and Greece’s Terna recently won a SR404m contract to build Aldara Hospital and Medical Centre in Riyadh, while earlier this year the Interior ministry selected the local ABV Rock to build a multibillion-dollar medical city in the Saudi capital.

In 2012, the ministry awarded a SR642m ($171.2m) contract to the local Al-Fouzan Trading & General Construction Company to build the first phase of the estimated SR4bn King Faisal Medical City, which will be located in the southern province of the kingdom.