Habtoor Leighton in US$169m Saudi mine deal win

UAE-based Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) has been handed part of a US$169m contract for a mine-related infrastructure project in Saudi Arabia. HLG, a joint venture between Al Habtoor Group and Australia’s Leighton Holdings, will receive US$85m for the contract, which will be carried out alongside Dragados Gulf Construction Company. The project will see the construction of mine-related infrastructure at Saudi Ma’aden Alcoa Aluminium joint venture bauxite mine in the Al Ba’itha desert in the kingdom’s Qassim region. "We're delighted to secure our second project in Saudi Arabia this year and are confident of securing other opportunities within the kingdom in 2012," said Habtoor Leighton managing director Laurie Voyer in a statement. The deal is the second major project HLG has signed in the highly lucrative Saudi Arabian market this week. On Sunday, the company announced that it would deliver part of a US$765m deal to help redevelop Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport. HLG’s share of the US$765m contract to design and build a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at the kingdom’s largest airport is worth US$153m. The contractor’s joint venture partners in the deal are TAV and Al Rajhi. The client is Saudi Aerospace and Engineering Industries, part of Saudi Arabian Airlines Group. The scope of work on the Jeddah airport project includes the design and construction of 11 aircraft maintenance hangars, plus ancillary buildings spread over a 343,000 sqm built-up area. The facility is due for completion in October 2014. King Abdulaziz International Airport is currently undergoing a US$7.2bn expansion plan to increase the airport’s capacity from 13m to 80m passengers per year by 2035. So far this year, HLG has been awarded a US$130m deal to help redevelop Dubai Creek and a US$515m contract to redevelop the Metropolitan Hotel in Dubai.