Strong Contract Award Values and Resilient Outlook

The GCC Projects market has continued to perform strongly against its ten-year average spend (around US$ 164b¹) and is on track to perform at similar levels to 2023 and 2024.² As of October this year, the region had awarded about approximately US$ 249b³ worth of projects contracts, and significant opportunities continue to be announced in nearly every sector.⁴ This client alert covers select opportunities that we are seeing in the market with a focus on PPPs, event driven projects, utilities, real estate and transportation.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE markets remain the largest regional projects markets and are expected to keep leading. Both countries have continued to award steady streams of contracts throughout 2025 (with each having awarding over US$ 50b worth of contracts to the end of August and just over US $6b of Projects in October alone)⁵ underpinning large and visible pipelines. Saudi Arabia’s US$ 1.65t pipeline is the third largest globally (behind only the USA and China) and the UAE’s is valued at almost $875b.⁶ Other GCC markets also have significant pipelines of upcoming projects and, between them and around the region there is approximately US$ 3.1t of known, planned and unawarded project spending. ⁷

Unsurprisingly, most of the planned expenditure is set to be in the construction sector (particularly to support Saudi Arabia’s Gigaproject Pipeline – which currently has approximately US$ 55b worth of contracts out for tender on its various Gigaprojects⁸), supplemented with large numbers of power, transport and water projects being announced across the region. ⁹

Opportunities

Even with a relative slowdown from the record contract award levels of the last two years, there are still significant opportunities in the region, including:

1. The Golden Age of PPPs. PPP adoption is accelerating across the GCC.¹⁰ In Saudi Arabia, PPP awards of around US$ 20b in both 2023 and 2024, lifted PPP’s share of total projects spending to an average of nearly 21% (up from 10.2% or less prior to 2022. As PPPs continue to be deployed in a diverse range of sectors, their increase in popularity is expected to continue. In Saudi Arabia, the NCP has announced a pipeline of 175 projects, including 77 upcoming opportunities and 42 live transactions.¹¹ The Kingdom has also recently issued tenders for its first stadium (Prince Faisal bin Fahad Sports City Stadium), EOIs for more venues (the Qiddiya National Athletics Stadium) and rail PPPs (Q-Express).¹² Outside of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi intends to use PPPs to procure a US$ 54b pipeline of infrastructure,¹³ and Dubai continues to tender numerous significant projects using the model (including its recent US$ 22b Strategic Sewer Tunnels Project).¹⁴ For deeper analysis, please refer to King and Spalding’s recent PPP though leadership, available in the footnote links below.¹⁵
   
   
2. Event Driven Projects (particularly in Saudi Arabia). Preparations for marquee events like Riyadh Expo 2030, the FIFA World Cup 2034, the 2027 Asian Football Championship and the 2029 Asian Winter Games will require rapid development of venues and enabling infrastructure, creating a near-term wave of opportunities.
   
   
3. Utilities Infrastructure (particularly water and power). Utilities remain a priority to support the demand of larger populations around the GCC. Saudi Arabia anticipates record spending in the water sector,¹⁶ and will require at least 20GW of new renewable power per year.¹⁷ Governments around the region are using their established, successful project models to speed up procurement (the UAE’s EWEC, for example, is anticipated to award six major generation projects in 2025).¹⁸
   
   
4. Increased emphasis toward real estate‑anchored funding. With delivery costs increasing and greater selectivity on state balance sheets, sponsors are increasingly mobilising private capital through real estate‑led structures to anchor core infrastructure. Recent examples include Jeddah Central Development Company’s approximately $1.8b in hospitality investment agreements with leading global operators (including Mandarin Oriental, One and Only, Hilton), and Al-Balad Development Company’s recently announced $3.6b investment portfolio to develop hospitality assets in Jeddah Historic District.¹⁹
   
   
5. Transportation. Continued investment in transport infrastructure is also critical to support the GCC’s expanding populations. Numerous significant roading, metro and rail projects are currently being procured around the region, like the Saudi Landbridge,²⁰ Q-Express and other Riyadh Metro extensions,²¹ the Hafeet Rail network linking Oman and the UAE,²² and Abu Dhabi’s recently announced US$ 46b package of upgrades to strategic roads, Etihad Rail’s high-speed passenger rail between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and rail and tram services.²³

King & Spalding has extensive experience advising both public and private-sector clients on the procurement, delivery and ongoing management of the world’s largest construction, infrastructure, energy and utilities projects, including under PPP models. For more information, or to discuss a specific opportunity, please contact one of our core team.