JEDDAH, 30 December 2006 — The Saudi Bin Laden Group, in partnership with French Aeroports de Paris, was awarded a $250 million contract to develop a lounge for Haj pilgrims at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA) here. International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private sector arm of World Bank — which provides consultancy services to the General Authority for Civil Aviation, handled the bids for the project which involves “build-operate-transfer”agreement, Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily reported yesterday.

The contract includes upgrading service standards to the passengers, aside from increasing the capacity of the lounge. The tender included both the technical and financial aspects. The selection was made after evaluating factors such as capability, potential for construction, work plan and the quality of services and designing. The pilgrim lounge at the KAIA has been serving millions of overseas pilgrims traveling from and to their countries over the past several years. During the current Haj season alone, more than two million pilgrims are expected to pass through this lounge.

Waleed Abdul Rahman Al-Murshid, IFC official responsible for regional investments in the Middle East and North Africa, said his company had offered the General Authority for Civil Aviation its consultancy service for the project design with the participation of both public and private sectors. He further said that a Saudi-Greek consortium led by SETE has won a contract to develop a new desalination plant at the KAIA.

Under the 20-year agreement, the concessionaire will build a seawater reverse osmosis plant, which will have an initial capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of potable water per day. The Saudi government has been encouraging private sector investments in various economic activities over the years.