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Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday that it plans to tender four highway projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model as part of a pipeline of 200 privatisation and PPP projects across 17 sectors rolled out by the National Centre for Privatisation and PPP (NCP).
The projects would be procured by Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services, according to details shared by NCP. The launch dates for the tenders weren’t specified.
The four highway PPP projects are as follows:
Jeddah - Makkah Highway
The Jeddah-Makkah Road extends for 64 kilometres and includes seven interchanges and four camel crossings. The construction is being carried out in three phases that account for 51 km. Construction works for Phase 4 is yet to begin but NCP said the cost would be funded by the government as in the case for Phases 1 to 3.
The Ministry plans to procure Operation & Maintenance (O&M) services in addition to developing and operating Motorway Service Areas (MSA) of Jeddah-Makkah Road under PPP.
However, the contract duration and the road length to be covered weren’t specified.
Yanbu – Jubail Highway
The highway connects Yanbu and Jubail with a length of 447 km, containing 17 intersections, 14 wildlife crossings, four bridges, one tunnel, and 18 service areas. Construction work on 39 km towards Al Zulfi area has been completed.
NCP didn’t specify the contract type and duration nor the length of the highway to be covered.
Asir - Jazan Highway
The highway will connect Asir and Jizan, with a length of 136 km, containing six intersections, 18 km of bridges, and a 9 km of tunnels. The project starts at Al-Farah in Asir and extends to the Red Sea through Jazan.
The project will be procured under a 30-year Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) contract.
Jeddah - Jazan Highway
The highway will connect Jeddah and Jazan, with a length of 570 km, containing 43 intersections, 11 wildlife crossings, and 29 bridges. The project scope includes converting the current 280 km of double lanes into three lanes.
NCP said the contract duration would be 30 years but didn’t specify the type of PPP contract.
(Writing by Senthil Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)
