Saudi ‘unawarded projects’ worth $250bn

Dubai / Emirates Business

Saudi Arabia has a pipeline of over $250bn worth of projects under development that have not yet seen their main construction contracts awarded, according to Saudi Arabia 2017: Delivering Vision 2030, a new report from business intelligence service MEED.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia’s pipeline of unawarded projects accounts for about 39 per cent of the GCC total, confirming the kingdom’s status as the region’s biggest projects market.
Using data from MEED’s project database MEED Projects, Saudi Arabia 2017: Delivering Vision 2030 reveals that at nearly $82bn worth of projects, the kingdom’s energy sector has the biggest pipeline of unawarded project contracts, accounting for about 33 per cent of the national total. The construction sector is the second biggest segment at 29 per cent with eth transport sector third at 27 per cent.
Together, power, construction and transport account for about $225bn of unplaced contracts, almost 89 per cent of the total value of contracts in the kingdom that are at the pre-execution stage.
After a year of uncertainty in 2016 as Riyadh formulated its response to lower oil prices, the 225-page report says that 2017 will be the year Saudi Arabia starts to deliver on its promises.
Having drawn up a blueprint for economic transformation in its Vision 2030 document, Riyadh is now setting about implementing those reforms in order to reposition the country for the low oil price era. One of the first major steps taken has been to establish the National Centre for Privatisation to plan and oversee the procurement of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other private sector initiatives. A host of state bodies are now being prepared for part privatisation.
Four PPPs have already been awarded this year to develop airport projects at Yanbu, Taif, Qassim and Hail. Saudi Arabia wants to privatise the operations of all airports by 2020. Advisers have also been enlisted to develop plans to engage private investors in other sectors such as healthcare.
The Ministry of Health is currently seeking advisers to help it draft a framework to build about 3,000 mega and primary medical centres with the participation of the private sector.

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