Saudi Arabia retook the GCC projects crown in 2Q -Kamco

Saudi Arabia reclaimed its spot as the Gulf's largest projects market in 2Q 2026 — the only GCC country where contract awards rose both q-o-q and y-o-y, according to Kamco Invest's GCC Projects Market Update (pdf). Awards jumped 160.4% q-o-q to USD 30.0 bn, rebounding from 1Q’s USD 11.5 bn — the second-lowest quarterly figure in more than five years — and unseating the UAE, which was the GCC’s biggest projects market for the two preceding quarters.

We were the regional outlier: Every other GCC market posted q-o-q declines as the Iran war weighed on activity, dragging total Gulf awards down 25.4% q-o-q to USD 59.4 bn. Monthly contract awards across MENA fell from USD 35.5 bn in February to the USD 16-19 bn range in each of March, April, and May, per Meed data cited in the report. The regional total was still 30% higher than a year earlier — driven largely by Saudi and Oman.

Construction did the heavy lifting. Awards in the sector surged 184.4% y-o-y to USD 14.2 bn, while gas awards more than quintupled to USD 4.4 bn. Transport (USD 7.0 bn) and water (USD 2.5 bn) also posted double-digit growth. Power was the sore spot, as awards collapsed 89.7% y-o-y to USD 648 mn from USD 6.3 bn.

The quarter’s big tickets — the Ministry of Defense’s USD 4.6 bn contract to Al Bawani for its new headquarters, the USD 1.3 bn Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah Road project in Riyadh awarded to a JV of Al Rashid Trading & Contracting Company and Turkiye’s IC Ictas, and Diriyah Company’s USD 727 mn award for the Waldorf Astoria superblock, which went to Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and UCC Saudi.

What’s next: The Kingdom accounts for more than half of the GCC’s USD 2.05 tn pipeline of planned and unawarded projects — and 63% of the region’s power projects in planning or execution, including the USD 6 bn KA-CARE nuclear reactor package 1, out to bid this year.