Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) is inviting expressions of interest by 7 April for the development of a new private terminal at King Khalid International airport in Riyadh.

International companies will have to partner with a local firm in order to participate in the development of the new terminal.

Gaca says it will assign a master developer that will have a long-term ground lease to manage the development and operation of the new terminal in addition to new hangar facilities. As part of the procurement process, Gaca will later assign two or more fixed-based operators to provide private aircraft and passenger-handling facilities at the terminal.

Gaca says it aims to issue a request for proposals in mid-April. Aviation consultancy SH&E, a subsidiary of US-based ICF International, is the lead adviser on the project and will advise Gaca on developing the terminal.

Gaca is currently upgrading its aviation infrastructure and has a number of large airport developments under way, including projects at Jeddah and Medina airports.

Bids for the $1.5bn public-private partnership (PPP) contract for the first phase of Medina airport are due on 2 May. The first phase will involve building a new terminal that will increase passenger handling capacity at the airport to 14 million people a year. Medina airport currently handles just 3.5 million passengers each year.

Local Saudi Binladin won the construction contract for the expansion of Jeddah airport in November 2010 (MEED 18:11:10). The work involves building a new passenger terminal and the associated infrastructure.