India’s GMR, Dar Al Handasah in race for Abha airport project

Saudi Civil Aviation Holding Company (Matarat), in partnership with the National Center for Privatization & PPP(NCP) and the Aseer Development Authority (ASDA), has announced that some of the biggest names in airport construction sector have prequalified for the new Abha International Airport project in Asir Region.

The list of the qualified bidders include India’s GMR Airports Limited; Turkish Mada TAV consortium comprising Mada Holding International and TAV Havalimanlari Holding; Touwaik Alliance comprising Skilled Engineers Contracting, Limak Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S, Incheon International Airport Corporation, Dar Al Handasah Consultants (Shair and Partners), and Obermeyer Middle East as well as VI Asyad daa comprising Vision International Investment Company, Asyad Holding, and daa International Limited.

On completion, the new airport will be able to accommodate over 13 million passengers annually, a 10-fold increase from the current capacity of 1.5 million.

The Abha airport will then start handling more than 90,000 flights per year, up from the current 30,000.

According to Matarat, the project is a Public Private Partnership initiative intended to meet the objectives from the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 Plan. It will be implemented on a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) model.

In addition the project is also intended to align with all relevant major national strategies, specific to the National Transportation and Logistics Strategy, National Aviation Strategy and Aseer Economic Development Strategy.

The primary agreement that will be entered between Matarat and the project company will be for a period of 30 years. Its scope of work will include the design, financing, construction and operation of the new Abha Airport.

All of Saudi Arabia’s airports are being supervised by Matarat Holding, which monitors the operations of 27 airports across the kingdom through its subsidiaries (Riyadh Airports, Jeddah Airports, Dammam Airports, and Cluster 2) to develop the country’s airports and improve their performance to keep up with the rapid pace of current developments.

This aligns with the Saudi Aviation Strategy, which is grounded in the National Transport and Logistics Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030, it added.