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"Al Mabani works on many big road & rail infrastructure projects. We have had good cooperation with Dutch companies before and are happy to welcome the delegation of Dutch companies in June." Procurement Department, Al Mabani General Contractors
Opportunities
Over the coming 8 years about $ 400 billion will be invested in infrastructure, through a range of projects . These will include the design and build of roads and highways, railways, airports, seaports and all additional infrastructure.
Click here for upcoming projects in infrastructure
Expanding of infrastructure
Saudi infrastructure will be expanded on a couple of points in the coming years. Main objective in the plans is to connect all major cities of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states with one another. These cities are also growing and therefore need additional infrastructure capacity. Apart from building new roads, tunnels, bridges, fly-overs and further improvements on the existing road infrastructure, a lot of attention is awarded to the development of new railways. Railways were until a couple of years ago a rarity on the Arabian Peninsula, but since the populationcenters have expanded and industrial activity is picking up railways have become commercially viable. The railway lines are intended to transport both passengers and cargo. The distances are vast however, the weather conditions extreme and the deadlines extremely tight. Therefore, innovative ideas and products are more than welcome.
Traffic management
As in all situations in which old infrastructure has had to cope with high demand, Saudi roads are becoming more and more jammed. It may come as no surprise than that Saudi officials are interested in ideas and technology that can help spread the pressure on its roads.
Investments are already planned for more ringroads around cities, fly-overs and tunnels to reduce traffic at intersections, etc. Traffic management systems have also gained attention.
Public transport and parking
Currently there is not much public transport in Saudi Arabia. Every household owns on average 2 cars, a figure that is still on the rise. The high numbers of cars leads to traffic jams in the older parts of the cities and around commercial centers and shopping malls. To reduce the intensity of traffic a well developed public transport system is badly needed.
An additional factor to the clogging up of roads is the point that parking facilities are underdeveloped compared to other real estate investments. Creating more space for parking and avoid the dangerous situations that come with the unorganised fashion in which parking is done currently, Saudi Arabia is looking to invest in new parking facilities and systems.
Road Safety
Road safety is a major issue in Saudi Arabia. The country is ranking high in the category of traffic fatalities each year. For example, in 2008 there were a number of 6.458 traffic casualties and a total of 485.931 accidents. Given the growing pressure on existing infrastructure the need for increasing road safety is clear. There have been multiple media campaigns to create more awareness among the public for road safety. Furthermore investments are made in the re(construction) of safer roads, increasing visibility with better lighting and put more effort in law enforcement.
