RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is expected to be the biggest regional market for new project contract awards this year, worth some $35 billion, according to a new report.

KAMCO Invest said that the GCC project market showed a healthy recovery during the first quarter of 2021 with the value of projects awarded more than doubling, quarter on quarter to $26.3 billion.

This was mainly led by pending project awards from last year which were revived amid a strong regional vaccination effort.

The value of projects planned and under execution in the GCC has remained around the $1.7 trillion mark since 2017.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for more than 84 percent of the total market over the last two years.

The Kingdom remains the biggest market with $1.2 trillion worth of projects in the pipeline followed by the UAE and Kuwait at $652 billion and $187 billion, respectively.