Saudi Arabia issues two tenders for expansion of 7 of its domestic airports

Saudi Arabia ’s aviation authority has invited companies to bid for the redesign and expansion of 7 of its local airports as part of the kingdom’s multi-billion dollar plan to upgrade terminals across the country, MEED reported.

Deadline for the first tender, which covers al-Ahsa, al-Wajh, Sharurah and Wadi al-Dawasir airports, is April 30.

May 4 is the deadline for the second tender that includes redesigning Qaisumah, Rafha and Turaif airports.

The work includes the design of new passenger terminals, runways, aprons, control towers, maintenance buildings, VIP lounges and landscaping, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civl Aviation (GACA).

Last month, GACA announced two tenders for the expansion of al-Qassim and al-Jouf airports.

Expansion of al-Qassim airport entails building a new terminal, control tower, car parks and a mosque. The deadline for the bids is March 27. While the deadline for al-Jouf project is March 25.

In February, Saudi al-Jaber Co. won a bid to build Abha airport. The contractor’s SAR 1.8 million ($480) bid was 5 percent lower than the second lowest which was submitted by the local al-Mabani General Contractors. The third-lowest bid, SAR 2 billion came from Kuwait First Group.

Abha airport will have 21 passenger gates and cover an area of 80,000 square meters.

A consortium of Saudi Lebanese Modern Construction Co. (Salmoc), Safari & Salmoc and al-Subaie won a contract to develop King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jizan after submitting the lowest bid or SAR 2.6 billion. The deadline for the bids was June 2013, according to MEED.

Last year GACA issued bids for the expansion of terminal 3 and 4 of King Khalid International airport in Riyadh to increase the annual passenger capacity to 24 million passengers from 14 million. The closing date for that contract was Feb 27.

In February last year, Aecom Arabia, the local arm of US-based Aecon, was picked to manage the expansion project.