Parsons wins first-phase Saudi housing contract

Guy Mehula, Parsons' president for the MENA region.

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Parsons has been awarded the first package of the Saudi government’s plan to build 500,000 houses, the company said yesterday.

The US consultant received a mandate from the Ministry of Housing to oversee the masterplan for 3,200ha of land in the north of the kingdom that will be spread over nine sites.

The sites will be different sizes, ranging from 1,000ha in Dammam to 72.9ha in Khamis Mushayt.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to such a strategic project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Guy Mehula, Parsons MENA+ President.

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The mandate is one of the earliest to be released by the government as it kick-starts its nationwide plan to build 250,000 houses every year until 2015 to make up the shortfall in affordable units for Saudi citizens.

The ministry of housing was formed in March by the government to oversee the development of the housing, the tendering and contracts.

It is the latest major contract in the area of social infrastructure in the Gulf for California-headquartered Parsons. The consultant covers master-planning, preliminary design and engineering, design and construction management, consulting engineering services, costing and scheduling.

In May the company won a construction management contract for the first phase of Etihad Railway, the UAE-wide train network, in a joint venture with Aecom. It also has won a number of infrastructure contracts in Qatar.

“The Middle East has tremendous [infrastructure] needs. It has leaders who have identified those needs,” Mehula, based in Abu Dhabi, told CW in June. “They are going to need cost-conscious professionals who know how to deliver complex projects.”