More Trojena contracts scrapped

Watch this space

#1- It’s not looking good over in Trojena as Saudi Arabia has canceled yet another contract. Italian construction giant Webuild’s USD 4.7 bn contract for two projects within Neom’s Trojena mountain ski resort project has been scrapped, with the kingdom exercising a “termination for convenience.”

With two major infrastructure contracts canceled so far, it appears the project has been shelved (at least for now) as Saudi Arabia weighs its gigaprojects bill against reality. The USD 38 bn desert ski resort has been on the rocks since last year, when the kingdom postponed hosting the 2029 Asian Winter Games at Trojena, which was slated to launch this year.

It’s at least the third gigaproject-related contract cancelled in the last month following news we picked up last week that Malaysian steel firm Eversendai had lost its contract for Trojena.

#2- Morocco’s Akdital Holding is pivoting its expansion strategy toward the GCC, earmarking USD 350 mn to develop 11 hospitals across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Tunisia by 2030. The Casablanca-listed healthcare group expects the international push to generate some MAD 5 bn in annual revenue. While the firm had previously eyed Sub-Saharan Africa, CEO Rochdi Talib noted those plans are now on ice due to a “difficult business climate” and a shortage of medical staff — signaling a clear preference for the deeper pockets and more stable regulatory environments of the India-MENA corridor.

#3- Syria is looking to drum up USD 1 bn in foreign investment to overhaul its telecom and postal sectors, split evenly between the two. Officials in Damascus claim that French and Italian postal firms have expressed preliminary interest, though talks with regional players remain in the “early stages.” The push is the latest attempt by the Sharaa administration to court international capital to revive an economy gutted by over a decade of conflict.

Happening this week

Purchasing manager indices for most of our region are due this week. The data will be expected to capture the start of the fallout in the private non-oil sector due to the war.

Data point

100k — that’s the number of trucks that have docked in Jeddah port since the war began, almost a fifth of the Saudi trucking fleet. This comes as Saudi Arabia takes on a critical role in helping its Gulf neighbors sustain access to the global markets primarily through a Jeddah-Dammam corridor.

7 mn bbl/d — the volume of crude flowing through Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline. That means the Kingdom has hit maximum capacity of the pipeline — it’s the first time ever, and a feat some analysts said could be unattainable due to infrastructure and logistical hurdles. Saudi Arabia now exports 5 mn bb/d through its Yanbu terminals.