The scope of the project covers the construction of nine buildings of four to five floors in height.

The facilities include medical, dentistry and pharmacy colleges, as well as an 800-bed student hospital and a library.

Further packages are expected to be issued in the coming months for the engineering, art and science faculties.

The closing date for bids is 29 November but, according to one contractor considering bidding for the work, this deadline is likely to be delayed.

“I believe the bid will be extended,” says the contractor. “We have not yet had the pre-bid meeting. It is a huge new campus.”

King Khaled University is based in Abha in the southwest of Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1999.

The contract brings the value of university construction projects under way in the kingdom to SR40bn.

At the beginning of October, the Finance Ministry prequalified several firms, including Saudi Oger and Saudi Binladin Group, to submit bids by 22 October for a SR15bn campus for the Riyadh University for Women.

In July, Binladin was the low bidder for the contract to construct another women’s college in Riyadh, close to the existing King Saud University (MEED 25:7:08).

Other education projects in the kingdom include work on the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and King Khaled University (MEED 13:7:08).