Saudi Arabia’s Matarat Holding, in collaboration with the National Center for Privatization & PPP (NCP), has announced that leading global players in airport construction sector including Indian groups GMR and Bengaluru International Airport Limited, Turkey’s TAV Airports as well as Irish group daa International are in the race to build the new airport at Taif region of Saudi Arabia.

The new Taif International Airport will be located 21 km southeast by road of the existing Taif airport, and on completion will boast a capacity of 2.5 million passengers by 2030.

The project will be implemented on a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) model for a 30-year period, it stated.

Unveiling the list of qualified consortia and companies for the New Taif International Airport Project, Matarat said the prequalification process had attracted strong interest from leading regional and international airport operators, investors, and infrastructure developers, reflecting the strategic importance of the project and confidence in Saudi Arabia’s aviation privatization program.

Early this year, the Gulf Construction had reported that a total of 90 companies, including 46 local companies had expressed their interests in Taif International Airport project.

Following a comprehensive evaluation process, Matarat Holding confirmed that four consortia and one standalone company had successfully qualified to proceed to the next stage of the project from the list of 90 bidders. These are:

*Consortium of Kalyon İnşaat and AlBawani Capital

*Consortium of MADA International Holding and TAV Airports

*Consortium of Tamasuk and Bengaluru International Airport

*Consortium of Vision Invest, Asyad and daa International

According to Matarat, while the other four had qualified as consortium, the Indian group GMR was the only one that qualified as a standalone company for the project.

The project scope for the winning bidder includes construction of the new international airport with new runways, taxiways, and an apron for aircraft stands, a new passenger terminal, buildings, systems, networks, and facilities to serve the operation of the airport.

According to Matarat, this project aligns with Vision 2030’s goals which aims to enhance the growth of the aviation sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

Through the National Transport and Logistics Strategy and the National Aviation Strategy, the kingdom seeks to strengthen its position among the leading nations as a global logistics hub connecting three continents, it added.-TradeArabia News Service