Hill International, a construction consultancy, has secured a US$13.8 million extension to its existing contract to project-manage the Jabal Omar development overlooking the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The US company was appointed as a project manager by the Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC) five years ago to oversee the huge development, which involves the construction of 37 towers with a built-up area of 2 million square metres.
It initially signed a three-year, $18.6m deal before agreeing to a two-year, $28.7m extension in 2013. Its latest deal lifts Hill International’s total earnings from the project to $61.1m.
“We are confident that our team will continue to perform beyond our client’s expectations,” said Mohammed Al Rais, regional president for the Middle East at Hill International’s project management group.
Hill International also gained a one-year, $78.2m extension from Oman’s ministry of transport and communications and its public authority for civil aviation for the projects at Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport.
The Muscat International Airport contract was initially a $1.8 billion project to boost capacity to 12 million passengers per year that was due for completion last year, but the project has suffered from major delays. A Chinese ship that was carrying steel for the project sank in 2013, and a number of labour disputes caused workers to down tools in 2012 and 2013.
Hill International was originally appointed for a three-year, $108.5m contract in 2012 as a replacement for COWI Larsen, whose services the ministry terminated.
Since 2005 COWI Larsen had been the main consultant for the upgrade of Muscat Airport and the building of a new airport at Salalah with an annual capacity of two million passengers. Building work started at Muscat Airport in 2009.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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