Italian firm Webuild secures $600m contract as Diriyah project gains pace
The contract, awarded to a subsidiary of the Italian group — Salini Saudi Arabia — covers the construction of 70 buildings and public spaces within the mixed-use development, which forms part of the broader Diriyah master plan.
With this latest award, Webuild's total involvement in the sit, known as the City of Earth, now stands at roughly $2 billion, the company said in a statement.
Diriyah Square is a central component of Diriyah Co.'s strategy to transform the historic district into a commercial, residential, and cultural hub.
The project is one of five giga-projects backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, aimed at reshaping the Kingdom's economy and tourism offering under the Vision 2030 plan.
Diriyah will contribute approximately SR70 billion ($18.6 billion) directly to the Kingdom's gross domestic product, create nearly 180,000 jobs and will be home to an estimated 100,000 people.
Diriyah Co.'s group CEO Jerry Inzerillo said: 'Diriyah Square is one of our most exciting, anticipated and prestigious districts, and we are extremely pleased to have signed with Salini to deliver it, bringing their immense global experience to the table.'
He added that this marks another important milestone in their development journey, paving the way for Diriyah Square's retail spaces to welcome a diverse range of visitors — from nearby residential communities and surrounding office hubs to the millions who visit each year.
The contract covers Package 3 Finishing and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, delivering a pedestrian-friendly environment in traditional Najdi style across 365,000 sq. meters. Webuild is also working on the 10,500-space underground parking facility, awarded in 2022 and currently 55 percent complete, alongside structural packages 3, 6, and 7.
According to Diriyah Co., the project aims to create a retail district showcasing 400 brands across retail, leisure, and dining.
In a statement released by Webuild, CEO Pietro Salini said: 'We are proud to be able to contribute to a project of such symbolic and strategic value for Saudi Arabia. Our presence in the Kingdom will be further strengthened by work that will have a positive impact on the area as well as the local community.'
He added that the company has operated in Saudi Arabia since 1966 and has completed more than 90 projects.
'We continue to support the country to develop some of the most challenging infrastructure projects in the world, especially in sectors such as civil buildings, sustainable mobility, and desalination,' Salini said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Philippine government brings one-stop service for overseas Filipinos to Riyadh
MANILA: The Philippine Department of Migrant Workers launched on Friday the Middle East leg of its 'service caravan' in Riyadh, as officials seek to provide an all-in-one stop of essential government services for overseas Filipinos in the region. Saudi Arabia is the leading destination for overseas Filipino workers, with about 898,000 of them currently living and working in the Kingdom. The DMW collaborated with other government agencies to bring them the Serbisyo Caravan, or service caravan, an outreach program that offers various state services. 'The Serbisyo Caravan here in the Middle East is part of the government's ongoing program to bring vital services directly to our OFWs,' Rommel Romato, the Philippine consul-general in Jeddah, told Arab News. 'By gathering multiple agencies in one place, the caravan makes it easier and faster for OFWs to access assistance without needing to make special trips to the Philippines.' The services include welfare counseling, free legal consultations, business support assistance, as well as registration and processing of official documents, among other things that are usually only available within the Philippines. Many Filipino nationals in the Saudi capital flocked to take advantage of the service caravan, with large numbers queuing since Friday morning, as seen in a video posted by the DMW on Facebook. 'We want to regularize this program as we expand our diplomatic and consular services to millions of OFWs abroad,' Romato said. Philippine First Lady Louise Marcos arrived in Riyadh on Friday to oversee the launch of the outreach program. As part of the working visit, she will also meet with Filipino migrant workers in the Kingdom, according to Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro. Though Philippine officials first launched the service caravan in Hong Kong last month, Friday's service marks the first time it was brought to the Middle East. After Riyadh, the DMW is set to take the caravan program to the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Alkhobar, as well as Qatar and the UAE in July and August. Around 20 percent of Filipino migrant workers are in Saudi Arabia, while about 13.6 percent live and work in the UAE, and another 6.2 percent are in Qatar.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
US firms to develop Syria energy masterplan after Trump lifts sanctions
US-based firms Baker Hughes, Hunt Energy and Argent LNG will develop a masterplan for Syria's oil, gas and power sector, Argent LNG CEO Jonathan Bass said on Friday, in a partnership aimed at rebuilding energy infrastructure shattered by 14 years of civil war. The move marks a swift turnaround as US companies enter a country previously under one of the world's tightest sanctions regimes that US President Donald Trump lifted at the end of June. The companies plan to help explore and extract oil and gas and produce power to help get the economy running as the government seeks to put Syria back on the map. The plan comes after a dash by other companies, many from Gulf states, to sign deals to bolster Syria's power generation and ports infrastructure. Details of the plan have not been previously reported. 'We are initiating the development of a comprehensive masterplan for energy and power generation in Syria, based on a preliminary assessment of opportunities for near-term improvements in generation capacity and service delivery,' Bass told Reuters via phone. 'Our efforts aim to support the revitalization of the energy sector in coordination with relevant stakeholders,' he added. 'This includes potential activities across the value chain—from exploration and production to electricity generation, including combined-cycle power plants,' he said, declining to elaborate further. Argent LNG, which is developing a liquefied natural gas export facility in Louisiana, in January signed a non-binding agreement to supply Bangladesh up to 5 million metric tons of the fuel annually, the first major US LNG supply deal since Trump began his second term. Reuters received no immediate response to emailed questions to global energy services provider Baker Hughes and Texas-based electric utility Hunt Energy. The plan is to begin with areas west of the Euphrates River, under control of the Syrian government. Syria's east, where much of its oil is produced, remains controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed and Kurdish-led armed group that Washington has urged to integrate with the new authorities in Damascus following the ouster of former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. After 14 years of war, Syria's electricity sector is severely damaged, generating only 1.6 gigawatts of electricity, down from 9.5 GW before 2011. Billions of dollars of investment are needed to fix the sector, so the cash-strapped state is looking at private investment or donors to foot the bill. In May, Syria signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar's UCC Holding to develop $7 billion worth of power generation projects, including four combined-cycle gas turbine power plants and a 1,000-MW solar power plant in southern Syria. Growing interest In a post on LinkedIn on Thursday, Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh said the three US-based companies were forming a coalition to invest in Syria and develop the country's energy sector. 'This visit signals a growing interest among American companies and investors in engaging with Syria,' he said. Bass, Hunt Energy CEO Hunter L. Hunt, and a senior executive at Baker Hughes arrived in Syria on a private jet on Wednesday morning and were meeting with Barnieh when Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on Damascus that shook the city, Bass said. 'It was big,' said Bass, who has been working on the energy project since visiting Damascus and meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in April. He was part of both state-led and informal efforts to lobby Trump to meet with Sharaa. The landmark meeting took place in mid-May with a big push from the leaders of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Trump announced the end of Syria sanctions. As they are slowly phased out, investor interest in Syria has grown. A week of violence in the southern province of Sweida, however, has darkened the mood in the country and left at least 321 people dead, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a human rights group. 'To work in Syria, there are potholes, there are ditches, it has craters,' said Bass. 'If you don't have the team that's willing to accept craters, don't come.'
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Iraq's Kurdish oil exports restart is not imminent
BAGHDAD/LONDON: A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately. Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Turkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023. On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Turkiye despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output. But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart. Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Turkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows. On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details. Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed. Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement. On Friday Genel Energy and Gulf Keystone Petroleum declined to comment, while DNO, Hunt Oil and HKN Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. DRONE ATTACKS Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility. They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen. On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said. It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Turkiye. No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.
