Upcoming Mega Projects Middle East

SAUDI ARABIA

Project: Construct Propylene and Polypropylene Plant  
Value: USD 1,800,000,000
Client: Advanced Petrochemical Company (ADVANCED)
Website: www.advancedpetrochem.com

Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical Company (ADVANCED) is setting up a joint venture project at a total cost of approximately $1.8bn (SAR6.75bn) to manufacture propylene and polypropylene in Jubail Industrial City. Its subsidiary Advanced Global Investment Company (AGIC) has signed an shareholders’ agreement with Singapore-headquartered SK Gas Petrochemical Pte. Ltd. (SKGP), a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Gas Co, to incorporate a new JV called Advanced Polyolefins Company.

The JV will construct and operate a Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) plant with a nameplate capacity of 843,000 tons per annum (tpa) of propylene and two Poly Propylene (PP) plants with a total capacity of 800,000 tpa of polypropylene. Advanced Polyolefins Company expects to begin construction in 2021 and commence commercial operations by the second half of 2024. Saudi Aramco would supply the project with its main feedstock propane on a long-term basis. The project would have a debt equity ratio of 75:25. AGIC would own 85 percent equity stake (financed by Advanced) in the JV with remaining 15 percent owned by SKGP.

SAUDI ARABIA

Project: Jeddah Islamic Port Expansion  
Value: USD 1,700,000,000
Client: Red Sea Gate Terminal (RSGT)
Website: www.rsgt.com

A new 30-year concession agreement for the existing north port facility was signed by RSGT with the Saudi Arabian Ports Authority, Mawani, in late 2019 with calls for $1.7bn of investment in infrastructure, equipment and technology by 2050, as annual container throughput capacity surges to 8 million TEUs. By 2023, the expanded RSGT, covering an area of 1.5 million sqm, will have increased annual container throughput capacity to 5.2 million TEUs.

RSGT, which currently has the capability to accommodate Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) of 20,000 TEU class and above, will be equipped with 24 Super Post-Panamax quay cranes, 67 Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTGs), and will offer 4,900 Reefer plugs at the end of the first three-year phase of investment. This carefully planned programme of growth and investment will firmly establish RSGT as the largest logistics gateway, and the busiest container terminal, in Saudi Arabia, and on the Red Sea. The flagship Saudi container docking terminal has already signed an Islamic financing agreement with Banque Saudi Fransi and Al Rajhi Bank for the project.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Project: Upgrade work at the Falcon Junction  
Value: USD 122,000,000
Client: Roads And Transport Authority (RTA)
Website: www.rta.ae

The Falcon Junction upgrade project will involve the construction of two bridges along Al Khaleej Street. The first bridge will extend 750m northwards while the second will stretch 1,075m southwards. The work forms part of phase III of the RTA’s Al Shandagha Roads Corridor Improvement Project, which is estimated to cost AED5.35bn ($1.45bn).

Bordered by Al Khaleej, Khaled bin Al Waleed and Al Ghubaiba Streets, the Falcon Junction upgrade project will involve the construction of 10 surface junctions with work scheduled for completion by the end of 2022. The project will also include the construction of a one-lane 250m bridge for right-turn from Khaled bin Al Waleed Street to Al Khaleej Street.

It will also include the construction of a two-lane 500m tunnel for left turns from Khaled bin Al Waleed St to Al Mina St as well as a surface signalized junction linking Al Khaleej with Al Ghubaiba and Khaled bin Al Waleed Streets.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Project: Baniyas Projects  
Value: USD 98,000,000
Client: Abu Dhabi City Municipality

Construction of major roads, entrances, a one km rainwater drainage network, a one km water network and an electricity network with a length of 65km. There is also a project to develop roads and infrastructure in the area surrounding Baniyas Villas for the basins WB2, WB3A, WB3C.

The cost also includes an internal and infrastructure road project, the second phase for the Baniyas East and Baniyas West, in addition to current and ongoing maintenance projects including rainwater drainage project, maintenance and replacement of lighting posts, lamps, and lighting equipment, bridges, car tunnels and pedestrians on the mainland of Abu Dhabi.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Project: Construct Silos At Sharjah Food Park
Value: USD 40,800,000
Client: Arab & India Spices
Website: www.arabindia.com

Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) has announced that Arab & India Spices, a global leader in the pulses and spice industry, will build 12 silos worth $40.8m (AED150m) at the Sharjah Food Park with a total operating capacity of 52,000 metric tons of pulses at a time.

The 12 grain storage warehouses will be constructed over an area spanning 27,871m2 in the food park, which is a regional hub for the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) multi-billion dollar food industry, dedicated to food import, export, storage, manufacture, and packaging. This first-of-its-kind facility in the MENA region in terms of organised storage capacity will cover the UAE’s consumption needs of beans and lentils for a period of six months.