Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's oil giant which has been authorised by King Abdullah to build 11 new state-of-the-art stadiums across the country, will start the projects in January, a report said.

The company will present bidding conditions for local and international companies to qualify for the project on Wednesday, the Arab News report said quoting a company statement.

All the stadiums are expected to be completed in two years time, the report said.

The new stadiums, which will have a capacity of 45,000 spectators, will be similar to the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, the statement said.

Local contracting companies will be given the opportunity to compete with international firms for the projects, the report said. The designing work has been given to international consultants.

Dammam governorate has already allocated two million sq m of land in south of Dhahran Airbase to build the stadium.