The largest contract awarded in March by far was the $4.3bn deal secured by a branch of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) from Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) for the renewal of the second phase of a freight rail link between Dammam and Riyadh.

The 23-month contract covers work on a 91 kilometre- long section of the second phase of the 480km-long freight rail link between Dammam and Riyadh, .

The $4.3bn deal followed Spain’s Talgo winning a $200m contract to supply six trains to Saudi Railways Organisation (SRO) for use on the rail link connecting Riyadh with Dammam. The new diesel-electric traction trains will help cut the travelling time between Riyadh and Dammam from four hours to three, with design speeds of 200 kilometres an hour (km/h).

There were no other contract awards that were worth more than $1bn, as clients across the region appear to defer major investment decisions on mulit-billion dollar projects following the drop in oil prices in the second half of 2014.

Other significant contracts valued over $100m awarded in March include deals for the construction of highways in Oman, infrastructure in Qatar, housing in Saudi Arabia, a mall in Qatar, and wind farms in Egypt.

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