The US’ Hill International has been awarded an estimated SR14.2m ($3.8m) contract to provide oversight services for the expansion of the King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah.

Hill will provide value engineering and training services during the design and construction phases of the expansion programme. The US firm was awarded the contract by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca), the client for the project.

The training contract is the latest of a number of contracts that have been tendered as part of the airport expansion scheme. Gaca recently invited contractors to submit bids for a contract to build new aprons at the airport.

In April, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI) awarded a consortium led by Turkey’s TAV Construction an estimated $800m contract to build its aircraft maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) facility at the Jeddah airport.

The main construction packages on the Jeddah airport expansion project were awarded to the local Saudi Binladin Group in 2010. Binladin was awarded two main construction contracts worth an estimated total of SR27bn.The first package includes building a new terminal building, air traffic control tower and supporting facilities and the second package works include building taxiways, roads and other infrastructure.