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Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Privatization & PPP (NCP) is seeking private investments for 14 projects in the logistics and transport sectors as part of a wider privatization program for infrastructure projects, according to apress release. The projects are open to both local and foreign investors, the press release says, without disclosing the value of investments the program is targeting.
#1- Port development: The kingdom is seeking private investments to help fund the development of the port of Al Khafji, bordering Kuwait; Al Batha, bordering UAE; Al Wadiah, which borders Saudi Arabia and Yemen; and three other ports — Al Hadithah, Halat Ammar and Al Durra — bordering the kingdom and Jordan. The development work for the ports has been ongoing since June 2022, according to the website, but will take 23 years to complete.
#2- Logistics areas: The center is also looking for investors to submit bids for the design, building, financing, and maintenance of a logistics area in Jadidat Araar port, which involves developing warehousing, light manufacturing spaces, parking facilities for trucks, and housing for port workers, according to the website. The project will have a capacity of 1.2 mn cubic meters, and will run for 23 years.
#3- Urban infrastructure: The center approved nine infrastructure projects, spanning highways, airports, and marine ports, for privatization. The breakdown:
- 15-year marine service agreement for Yanbu commercial port, King Fahad Industrial port in Yanbu, Jeddah Islamic port, Jizan – Ras Alkhair port, King Fahad Industrial Port in Jubail, Jubail Commercial port, and King Abdulaziz port in Dammam.
- 136 km Asir-Jazan highway, which will include six intersections, 18 km of bridges and 9 km of tunnels.
- 570 km Jeddah-Jazan highway, with plans to convert the current 280 km of double lanes to three, 43 intersections, 29 bridges, and 11 wildlife crossings.
- 447 km Yanbu-Jubail highway, which includes 17 intersections, 18 service areas, 14 wildlife crossings, four bridges and a tunnel.
- 64 km Jeddah-Mekkah highway, including seven interchanges and four camel crossings. Construction on 51 km of the road is already underway, but the proposed scope of the contract is to operate and maintain the road once it’s finished.
- Expansion of Abha International Airport to reach a capacity of 8.5 mn up from its original 1.5 mn passenger capacity.
- Development of the Taif New International Airport, to reach a capacity of 4 mn passengers in 2030 and 7.4 mn passengers in 2053, up from the airport’s current 600k passenger capacity.
- Expansion of Hail International Airport to handle 3 mn passengers.
- Expansion of Prince Naif Airport to serve 5.3 mn passengers.
#5- Logistics cities: The center is also seeking private investments under a design-build-finance-operate-maintain-transfer model for the development of warehouses, infrastructure and superstructure of logistics areas in Dammam Second Industrial City, and the logistics cities in Araar and Al Qurayyat.
#6- Land ports: Another design, build, operate and maintain (DBOM) contract is up for grabs for a solar power plant in Al-Rub’ Al-Khali land port, which involves financing and installing solar panels, transformers, and other equipment, connecting the plant to the port’s electrical grid, distributing energy to the port, as well as maintenance of solar panels and other equipment. A second DBOM contract is up for grabs for the development of warehousing in land ports to handle the storage of confiscated goods. Finally, the center has also approved a project to develop and operate residential housing for families in land ports, which will include some 144 accommodation units.
