Habtoor Leighton JV lands $765m Saudi deal

Dubai: Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG), in joint venture with TAV and Al Rajhi, said they have been awarded a SR2.87 billion ($765 million) contract in Saudi Arabia for the design and construction of a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility (MRO) for Saudi Aerospace and Engineering Industries (SAEI).

HLG's share of the contract is worth SR573 million ($153 million). With this, the company's total orderbook backlog stands at Dh16 billion, its spokesperson told Gulf News.

The project is located within the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and is part of an overall SR27 billion ($7.2 billion) expansion plan to increase the airport's capacity from 13 million to 80 million passengers per year by 2035.

HLG CEO and Managing Director, Laurie Voyer, said this project was typical of some of the new work opportunities that HLG was pursuing in the region and reflected the Group's growth strategy to expand into new geographic markets.

"Strategically this is a very important project for us," he said.

"Our growth strategy is based on diversifying our workload by both geography and work type with good quality clients who value our services.

"This project is our first major project in Saudi Arabia, which is perhaps our most important geographic growth market.

"We are able to leverage off the Leighton Group's Australian and Asian experience in delivering airport infrastructure and apply this to a new market.

"Saudi Arabia is a key growth market for HLG. It is by far the largest market in the Middle East and close to $50 billion worth of projects will be awarded there this year," he said.

Voyer said that HLG expected to secure further work in the Kingdom this year. "We're confident that this is the first of a number of projects we will secure in Saudi Arabia in 2012," he said.

HLG - TAV - Al Rajhi JV's scope of works includes the design and construction of: 11 aircraft maintenance hangars with clear spans up to 160 metres; maintenance, ancillary buildings and workshops comprising 343,000 square metres of built-up area; all electro-mechanical and special equipment required for a modern automated MRO facility and corresponding aprons, taxiways and airfield infrastructure works.

The MRO facility will service all types of modern aircraft including the latest A380 and B747 models and will be the one of the largest MRO facilities in the Middle East. SAEI also retains an option to increase the facility by a further 150,000 square metres which include a further nine hangars.

Design and enabling works are expected to commence immediately with the facility due for completion in October 2014 after a 30 month design and construct period.

SAEI is part of Saudi Arabian Airlines Group.