The Saudi government has awarded contracts to major regional and international firms for development of five airports in the Kingdom, reported Arab News, citing the Transport Minister Sulaiman Al Hamdan.

These include a contract to operate the new King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, operation of which had already been awarded to Singapore-based Changi Airports International (CAI) for a 20-year period.

Al Hamdan said the contract to develop and operate the new Taif International Airport was signed with Asyad Holding Group in collaboration with Consolidated Contractors Company and Munich Airport.

The contracts to operate Qassim’s Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz Airport, Hail International Airport and Yanbu’s Prince Abdul Mohsin bin Abdul Aziz Airport were signed with the consortium of Turkish TAV Airports Holding and Al Rajhi Holding Group.

Al Hamdan, who is also the chairman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said these contracts comes within the authority’s strategy of expanding the private sector’s role in airport projects and increasing investment opportunities to provide the best services to passengers with the international standards.

The contracts for the Taif, Qassim, Yanbu and Hail airports are based on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, said the report. Once completed, these airports will together receive over 19 million passengers every year.