JEDDAH: The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has so far signed contracts worth more than SR16 billion to develop Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport (KAIA), Abdullah Ruhaimy, president of GACA announced yesterday.
Ruhaimy said contracts for the remaining works would be signed on a priority basis. Work on the new airport project would start early next year following a fast-track method, he said. The project’s first phase, designed to accommodate 30 million passengers, would be ready by 2012.
“Once the third and final phase of the project is completed in 2035, the airport will be able to handle 80 million passengers annually,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.
Ruhaimy made this comment while making a presentation about the airport development project to Makkah Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal. He briefed the governor on the works and measures already completed to implement the project.
GACA signed an agreement last week with Aéroports de Paris Company of France to provide design and engineering services for the first phase of KAIA’s development project.
The agreement was valued at SR514.9 million ($137 million).
“A study on the general airport plan has already been completed by the Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO),” Ruhaimy said. The new airport will have state-of-the-art runways, aircraft parking facilities and air control towers, and will be able to receive new generation aircraft such as A380s.
He said Al-Mabani Company won a SR902.91 million contract last year to develop and upgrade the airport’s aviation facilities. The contract covered expansion of the airport’s tarmac and runways.
