Consultants have been invited to express interest in providing project management services for hotels planned for the Gulf of Aqaba component of the $500bn Neom city project in northwest Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf of Aqaba is a 120-kilometre-long coastal strip at Neom that has an average width of 3.5km. The total land area is about 430 square km. The overall development involves the construction of a series of hotels, including plans for a project, known as the Gas Station Hotel, which includes two 500m tall hotel towers on either side of the main highway serving the development and a low-rise resort.

The Chicago-headquartered Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) categorises any building that is above 300m tall as supertall. Buildings that are above 600m tall are considered to be megatall.

US-based Hill International has been appointed to provide development project management office services for the Gulf of Aqaba.

Project spending is ramping up at Neom. According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, Neom was the third most active project owner in the region for contract awards during the first half of this year. It awards $4.8bn of contracts, the bulk of which was made up of the four tunnelling packages that were awarded for The Line.