Tenders open to private partners for Saudi’s Makkah courthouse

Reuters/Waleed Ali

Saudi Arabia has opened up tenders for the Ministry of Justice Courthouse Complex, a public private partnership project in Makkah.

The kingdom’s National Centre for Privatisation and PPP and State Properties General Authority jointly announced the launch of expressions of interest for the 115,000 square metre project to be built in the Al-Nassem district of Makkah City.

The design, build, finance, maintainenance and transfer contract includes a total of seven courts, 79 courtrooms and 3,040 parking spaces.

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The expressions of interest statement said: “State Properties General Authority seeks to support the judicial sector by providing a modern complex to raise the levels of service [and] efficiency and contribute to enhancing business proficiency.”

Saudi Arabia’s construction market is heating up. According to the Q4 Saudi Construction Market Intelligence Report by JLL, the property consultancy, construction output in the kingdom is anticipated to rise by 3.2 percent in 2022, with a further annual average growth rate of 4 percent between 2023 and 2026.

A total of $31 billion worth of contracts were awarded in the first 10 months of this year.

JLL said that Saudi Arabia’s pipeline value of unawarded projects is estimated at $1.1 trillion, which includes those from the study stage through to the main contractor bid. 

Approximately 70 percent comprise construction sector projects with residential, cultural, leisure and hospitality as sub-sector leaders, which is the driving force behind the Vision 2030 strategy. 

In September, Knight Frank described Saudi Arabia as the biggest construction site the world has ever seen on the back of the number of real estate and infrastructure projects underway since the launch of Saudi Arabia’s National Transformation Plan in 2016.