Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Infrastructure

Infrastructure news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

The three contracts worth $235 million were signed between US-based Progress Rail and state-owned Egyptian National Railways

Egypt hires US company to modernise locomotives

Egyptian National Railways has awarded three contracts worth more than $235 million to US company Progress Rail to modernise its rail locomotive fleet. The contracts include the modernisation of 1,000 diesel-electric locomotives valued at $185 million and a 15-year agreement to supply parts for 141 locomotives worth $42 million, the US Embassy in Egypt said […]

Dubai sewerage sewage Construction materials loading in a large sewer line and tunnel in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Dubai takes step forward on $22bn sewage tunnel network

Dubai Municipality has issued a request for proposals for the first two contracts of the $22 billion Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project, according to a Dubai utilities official. The project aims to modernise Dubai’s sewerage system and has an estimated initial capital expenditure of AED30 billion ($8 billion) and a total lifecycle cost of […]

Egypt’s minister of planning, economic development and international cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, signs new development projects with France

Egypt secures France and EU funds to build infrastructure

Egypt has signed agreements with France and the European Union (EU) worth €262 million ($290 million) to support its infrastructure projects. The agreements were signed this week during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Egypt, local media reported. Cairo signed €132 million financing and grant agreements with the EU and the French Development […]

A construction site in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup

Oil price raises $1 trillion question for Saudi Arabia

Questions are being raised about the long-term future of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar infrastructure strategy as oil prices hit a four-year low and global stock markets tumble, according to economists. For the world’s second-largest oil producer, much depends on the trajectory of crude prices. The price of Brent crude has fallen by about 13 percent to […]

Person, Worker, Gate

Next phase of Jordan-Iraq power link due by late July

The second phase of a Jordan-Iraq electricity interconnection project is set for completion by the end of July, a news report has said. Almost 95 percent of the project’s civil works have been finalised, with installation of electrical equipment and essential testing remaining, Jordan News Agency reported citing Sufyan Batayneh, director general of the state-run […]

Turkey's transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said the government is close to securing funding for the railway

Turkey to tender rail project under Development Road plan

Turkey plans to float a tender for a new rail project that is part of the Development Road Project, a new freight link planned between Asia and Europe, according to a news report. The tender will be issued in the coming months, Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu. Ankara is […]

A view of Marrakesh. Morocco is investing heavily in infrastructure projects ahead of the World Cup

Morocco raises $2.2bn to fund World Cup projects

Morocco has reportedly generated €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in new loans to fund developments needed to co-host the 2030 Fifa World Cup. The euro-denominated bonds are the first to be issued in five years, Bloomberg reported. The four- and 10-year bond tranches were priced at 155 and 215 basis points, narrower than the previous estimate, […]

The twisted Cayan Tower in Dubai Marina is among Drake & Scull's projects.

Drake & Scull swings to $1bn profit post-restructuring

Drake & Scull International turned a profit last year following the completion of its restructuring plan. The contracting company, which trades on the Dubai Financial Market, swung to a net profit of AED4 billion ($1 billion) last year, compared to a net loss of AED367 million in 2023. Revenue marked a 20 percent rise to […]

IFC and Egyptian government officials sign the advisory agreement to introduce PPP schemes at 11 Egyptian airports

Egypt partners with IFC for airport privatisation

Egypt’s civil aviation ministry has partnered with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to introduce public private partnerships (PPP) at 11 airports, in a bit to improve infrastructure, connectivity and passenger services. As a pilot project, the IFC, a member of the World Bank, will act as the lead PPP transaction adviser for Hurghada International Airport, […]

The highway projects intend to improve access to the Grand Stadium in Casablanca for the World Cup, which Morocco will jointly host with Spain and Portugal

Morocco’s $1.3bn highway overhaul for 2030 World Cup

Morocco plans to invest MAD12.5 billion ($1.3 billion) to develop its highway infrastructure for the 2030 Fifa World Cup. The investments, spanning from 2025 to 2032, will focus on three major projects: the Continental Rabat-Casablanca Highway, Tit Mellil-Berrechid Highway, and Ain Harrouda and Sidi Maarouf junctions, Morocco News World reported citing a statement from the […]

The harbour at Cherchell, Algeria, the site of a planned deep-water port

Algeria cancels deep-water port project with China

Algeria has officially shelved a $3 billion project to build what could have been one of Africa’s largest ports, nine years after a group of Chinese and Algerian companies signed an initial agreement, Ports Europe reported. The Algerian authorities, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and the China Harbour Engineering Company, signed an initial agreement in […]

Workers use an excavator at the Faw port project site in Faw, in the southern province of Basra, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

Iraq’s long delayed Faw port nears completion

Iraq’s long-delayed redevelopment and construction of its Faw port near the Arabian Gulf will be completed this year, the Iraq state news agency reported, paving the way for improved access for goods to Iraq and beyond. South Korea’s Daewoo won a $2.6 billion contract to build five main piers at the port in 2010 and […]

Tabreed is the exclusive provider of district cooling for Burj Khalifa

Dubai’s Tabreed explores acquisitions for expansion

Dubai-listed district cooling company Tabreed is aiming to expand through acquisitions and organic growth in the UAE and global markets. “We aim to grow our connected capacity by 3 percent to 5 percent annually over 2025 to 2027,” chief financial officer Adel Salem Al Wahedi wrote in the company’s 2024 annual integrated board report. The […]

Project finance is becoming ever more important in funding the growing number of major infrastructure projects across the Gulf region

Project finance central to funding Gulf infrastructure

Financing a project and project finance are not necessarily the same thing. Irrespective, project finance is as important as ever in the Gulf in funding billions of dollars of infrastructure projects, from energy and water schemes to data centres and battery storage facilities, according to experts.  Abbas Hussein, global head of infrastructure and development finance […]

A view of the existing Dubai Metro Red Line. The Gold Line will start at Al-Ghubaiba in Bur Dubai

Dubai seeks consultant for new metro Gold Line

Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is seeking a lead consultant for its Dubai Metro Gold Line project, according to a news report. The RTA has issued a request for proposals for the consultancy role, Dubai-based Middle East Economic Digest (Meed) reported. Potential bidders are US-based Aecom, Jacobs and Parsons, Canada’s AtkinsRealis, UK-based Mott MacDonald […]

The King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station in Riyadh. The $5.6bn subway contract accounted for nearly a third of Chinese construction investment in Saudi Arabia

Middle East is top recipient of Chinese Belt and Road deals

The Middle East was the top recipient of construction and investment deals under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2024, with the total value reaching $39 billion.  That may not go down well in Washington. Saudi Arabia and construction topped the list, according to a report by Griffith Asia Institute, based in Queensland, Australia. […]

The construction of new lanes in Palm Jumeirah aims to ease traffic flow by 40%

Dubai communities to undergo $1.6bn road upgrade

Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Holding, a global investment conglomerate owned by Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, will undertake major road works in five major developments to try and cut travel times by more than half. The AED6 billion ($1.6 billion) road upgrades will be carried out in Palm […]

Some parts of Hyundai Rotem's new trains will be manufactured in Morocco

Morocco to get double-decker trains ahead of World Cup

Hyundai Rotem, South Korea’s railway rolling-stock maker, will supply double-decker trains to Morocco’s state-backed National Railway Office (ONCF), as the country prepares to co-host the football World Cup in 2030. The contract, valued at  MAD15 billion ($1.5 billion), will support the modernisation of the country’s rail network.  The new trains are designed to reach speeds of […]

A man delivers water by truck in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The country is one of the most water-stressed in the world, according to the World Bank

Water projects take priority in Jordan’s PPP pipeline

Jordan is planning to launch public-private partnerships (PPP) valued at more than $1 billion this year – and that figure may soon rise to $2 billion, according to an official. Hamza Alhajaya, head of Jordan’s PPP unit, told AGBI that Jordan is already expecting to publish tenders for seven projects in 2025 worth a total […]

Sidara has until March 24 to either make a firm bid for the John Wood Group or walk away

Sidara renews talks to take over John Wood Group

Engineering and construction consultancy Sidara has returned to the negotiating table for talks to take over the troubled British engineer John Wood Group. Sidara, which is based in Dubai, was in discussions last year over a potential $1.6 billion acquisition, but walked away in August, citing “geopolitical risks and market uncertainty”. Problems at the Scottish […]

A rainy day in Abu Dhabi. The damage caused by record rainfall across the UAE in 2024 is estimated to have cost $8.5bn

Abu Dhabi tenders more stormwater projects

Abu Dhabi has again invited companies to bid for stormwater drainage and flood mitigation projects. Record rainfall last year caused more than $8.5 billion of physical and economic damage in the UAE and wider region. The neighbouring emirate of Dubai, which was also hard-hit by the April floods, subsequently approved drainage-improvement plans worth $8.2 billion. […]

Outdoors, Nature, Aerial View

Neom spends $37bn on infrastructure development

Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion giga-project Neom has spent more than SAR140 billion ($37 billion) on infrastructure development so far, a senior company executive has said. Several real estate projects are still under development, with work on infrastructure and utilities continuously progressing, chief development officer Denis Hickey told PIF Private Sector Forum last week. The developer has two […]