The consortium is made up of Al-Rajhi Holding and Saudi Oger in addition to a Turkish company, Taf.
The contract, which will give the Madinah airport the distinction of being the first in the Kingdom to be totally built by the private sector in the BTO style, was signed under the aegis of Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Civil Aviation Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, who is also deputy chairman of the board of directors of GACA.
With phased expansion and reconstruction work covering 4 million square meters, the present airport will be totally transformed with new buildings, lounges and bridges for passengers to board planes directly.
Once the project is completed in 2015, the airport will have a capacity to receive 8 million passengers in the first phase and 12 million in the second phase, the Saudi Press Agency said Sunday.
Prince Fahd said GACA has been functioning with financial and administrative independence, relying on its own resources.
"The new contract is the result of the efforts of the late Crown Prince Sultan who had been supporting the aviation sector and encouraging participation of the private sector in airport projects," the prince said.
Stressing the significance of participation of the private sector in government projects, the prince said: “This kind of participation is in line with the government's intention to diversify revenue sources and increasing the dependence of the national economy on the private sector.”
He added that private sector participation would also improve administrative efficiency, productivity and quality of utility services besides keeping down costs without affecting quality.
The prince also hinted that more strategic participation between the private and public sectors were expected, with the aim of encouraging foreign investments in the Kingdom.
Chairman of GACA Faisal bin Hamad Al-Sugair said that the signing of the contract aimed to guarantee better airport services and facilitate a greater volume of air passenger traffic in addition to receiving a greater number of pilgrims and other passengers in the coming years.
