NCC won the contract at a price of SR 896 million ($239 million), only 1 per cent below the SR 899 million ($240 million) bid tabled by the local Arabian Bemco Contracting. Other bidders were: Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), with Canada's SNC Lavalin; and France's Alstom, with Geneva-registered Archirodon Construction (Overseas).

The PP3 expansion project calls for the installation of eight 80-MW units at an auxiliary plant, with NCC having proposed to use GE Frame-7 turbines. The project will be carried out on a fast-track basis due to the urgent need for additional power in the Jeddah area, which is already facing shortages at peak times.

The project is part of a wider SEC programme to increase capacity across the kingdom. A contract award is still pending on the Arar power plant expansion project, which calls for the installation of four 25-30-MW combustion gas turbines to bring total power capacity at the facility to more than 200 MW. NCC is the low bidder on the project at a price of about SR 320 million ($85.3 million). Bemco in May signed up for another power project, the 120-MW expansion of the Tabuk station (MEED 30:5:03; 28:2:03).