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In an effort to bring more private sector investment and management into the country’s strategic infrastructure, the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) on 11 January launched a request for qualification (RfQ) for 20-year concessions at eight of its ports.

Saudi Water Partnerships Company (SWPC) has said its Jubail 3A reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant should start commercial operations by Q4 2022. SWPC’s latest independent water project (IWP) is a 600,000 m3/d unit, located 18km south of Jubail Industrial City, in Eastern Province.

A London court case between the government-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and Dubai-based leasing company International Airfinance Corporation (IAFC) could help to confirm or undermine speculation about one potential source of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s wealth.

Jazeera Airways signed a deal with Airbus for 28 new A320 and A321 aircraft with a list price of $3.3bn.

Mena Aerospace Enterprises (MAE) – a company chaired and one-third owned by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa of Bahrain’s ruling family – is expanding beyond its core business aviation services to become an air cargo operator. MAE is also targeting the aviation services market in Saudi Arabia.

Dubai-based logistics giant DP World has created an investment joint venture with UK development finance institution CDC Group. DP World will contribute its stakes in the ports of Dakar in Senegal, Sokhna in Egypt and Berbera in the unrecognised Republic of Somaliland to the venture and says it expects to invest a further $1bn through the platform in the coming years.

The last stretch of tarmac on a 720km road linking Ibri in Oman with Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province was completed on 14 September, suggesting that the new crossing will open as planned before end-2021.

There are credible indications that the new oil terminal at Kooh Mobarak, 53km north-west of Jask, is unoperational, more than two months after the first cargo was reportedly loaded onto a tanker there.

Having built up a list of local construction firms working on the giga-projects, GSN has analysed the shareholding records for several contractors, using data provided by Diligencia in a partnership to help sharpen understanding of those involved. It shows that the companies most heavily involved are often decades old, with the exception of Saudi Real Estate Infrastructure Company (Binyah). They are mainly in private hands (Red Sea International is an exception) and often held by generations of the same family.

The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) awarded a joint venture of Nesma & Partners and Almabani General Contractors an estimated $240m contract for the airside infrastructure works for the Red Sea Project’s airport.

The Covid-19 pandemic has put huge pressure on government finances, but Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s favoured mega-projects have continued nevertheless, underpinned by PIF funding to offset the lack of foreign investment. Research by GSN, supported by data provided by Diligencia, shows the bulk of contracts have gone to some of the kingdom’s most long-established companies.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s favoured vehicle for implementing economic change and promoting new-look Saudi values, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has proved a source of fascination for foreign analysts and consultants as it transitioned from a fusty state investor into the developer of ‘giga-projects’ and much more.

Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction projects are being heavily promoted by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and funded by his Public Investment Fund despite pressures to cut state spending elsewhere. All of this is in line with his efforts to change the economy and the image of Saudi Arabia – while taking a share of the profits too – but as a Special Report in this issue shows, it is the old guard that are winning orders for the ‘mega-projects’, with contracts flowing to some of the kingdom’s most well-established contractors.

State-owned OQ announced the first export shipment of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) from the Oman Gas Company terminal in the Port of Salalah on 30 June, with 5,000 tonnes each of propane and butane heading to customers in India.

The rail system was thrown into “unprecedented chaos” on 7 July, when state media said trains were halted or delayed. Official reports first blamed cyber attackers for hacking into the network’s system which controls train movements, although the authorities later denied that had happened.