TAV announces $400m Riyadh airport T5 tender win

Turkish contractor TAV Construction has announced that it has won the tender to design and build Terminal 5 at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

In a filing to the Istanbul stock exchange, parent firm Akfen said that TAV Construction had bagged the contract to build a 100,000m2 terminal building, alongside 90,000m2 of car parking for 3,000 cars, a fire station, operations centre and plane apron and terminal airside infrastructure. It will also build links to the existing terminals. It will build the terminal under a joint venture partnership with Al Arrab Contracting, which is part of Saudi Arabian company Al Rajhi Holding.

The firm said the works would take 18 months to complete. In a separate announcement, TAV Construction added that the contract win brings the total contract value of the projects it has undertaken in the MENA region so far to more than $16bn.

It is the third  airport-related thender the company has won in the Kingdom following  contracts to develop Madinah International Airport and maintenance hangars at Jeddah International Airport.

TAV Group president & CEO Sani Sener said: “As our construction company progresses to expand in the Middle East it also continues creating opportunities for our airport operations company.

“We won the construction project of the new terminal building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a contract value of $400m.

“This is a very important project. Airport privatizations are continuing in Saudi Arabia. This airport is also one of those which will be privatized soon.”

He added that the firm was “happy to be undertaking an airport construction project in the country’s third-largest city and capital”.

“The airport construction and operations business depends heavily on technology. We continue proudly representing our country throughout the world.”

The announcement follows an earlier news release by TAV in November last year, when it said that its $300m design and build tender for the terminal building alongside joint venture partner Al Arrab Contracting was the lowest bid. At the time, the firm said that it expected the contract to be signed off by the end of 2012.

The work is being carried out to accommodate an expected growth in passenger numbers. Last month, the GACA said that the expansion will allow the airport to handle 35.5m passengers a year by 2015. In 2011, it handled 15 passengers.

TAV Construction is currently part of a consortium building the $3bn Midfield Terminal Complex at Abu Dhabi International Airport alongside Arabtec amd Consolidated Contractors Corp.