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Bechtel’s Impact Report

Waad Al Shamaal

Saudi Arabia
Diggers at Waad Al Shamaal City

Waad Al Shamaal City Development

Before long, a remote Saudi plateau just below the border with Jordan will be transformed into an industrial city of a hundred-thousand people and the facilities and infrastructure to make its industries hum. Bechtel is managing the creation of Waad Al Shamaal City and an associated mining complex, together known as the King Abdullah program for Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden). 

Ma'aden called on Bechtel to oversee the engineering and construction of the new complex near Turayf. In 2012, Bechtel developed the megaproject's master plan in advance of performing front-end engineering and design. Construction began in 2013.

Waad Al Shamaal is another in a continuing series of Saudi programs to harness, process, and monetize natural resources in a way that promotes economic development and diversity.

We have worked in the middle east for more than 70 years. On every project, we look to maximize the number of local job opportunities available and will use this approach to continue our legacy of delivering quality infrastructure in the Kingdom. 

David Welch, president, regions and government affairs

Inside the project

This project adds to Bechtel’s portfolio of work for Ma’aden during the last decade, which includes the Ras Al Khair aluminum smelter. Bechtel has successfully delivered nearly 5,000 mining and metals and civil infrastructure projects around the world and is currently building Jubail Industrial City, the world’s largest civil infrastructure project, also in Saudi Arabia.

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From the ground up

Waad Al Shamaal will emerge from the desert in phases. We are carefully planning each phase to suitably accommodate industrial workers and their families as Ma'aden's new phosphate mine and insturial complex ramp up to production by 2022.

Consultants under Bechtel's oversight have been working with Bechtel design offices in Dubai, Reston (Virginia), San Francisco, and Taipei to plan roads, housing, schools, hotels, shopping malls, and services for the transformation. Bechtel is managing construction of: 

  • community buildings
  • a retail and office area
  • 25 miles (40 kilometers) of roads
  • 1,000 residential units

Bechtel also oversees the work of another contractor charged with delivering the phosphate mine and new downstream facilities.

Our work

Bechtel's program management team has four major priorities:

  1. Monitor cost, schedule, and progress
  2. Identify and control program risks
  3. Set environmental, safety, and health policy
  4. Coordinate the power, rail, sulfur, and natural gas supply—as well as the port facilities—critical to long-term operations