Industry, Logistics & Shipping

Keller wins piling contract for Neom's 'The Line' project

Keller, one of the world's largest geotechnical specialist contractors headquartered in Germany, has secured a major piling contract for ‘The Line’ - a 170-km belt of hyper-connected future communities without cars and roads and built around nature - being developed within Saudi Arabia's futuristic $500-billion city Neom. 
 
Confirming the order, Keller said it is one of a small number of geotechnical contractors to have been selected to undertake work on the prestigious Neom giga project in the Tabuk Province of northwest Saudi Arabia. 
 
The company had signed an umbrella framework agreement with respect to the project, and was mobilising for an anticipated first works order on a portion of Module 40 which has an expected value to Keller of around £50 million ($61.3 million), with the work anticipated to be completed within the next 12 months.
 
According to Keller, the first element of the Neom project is ‘The Line’, starting in the west at the Gulf of Aqaba, continuing through the Sharma Valley and terminating at the Neom International Airport within the upper valley region. 
 
The Line is subdivided into approximately 135 modules, each containing eight buildings founded on large-diameter bored piles. 
 
Further works orders are expected to be awarded later in the year on subsequent modules, it stated. 
 
Keller pointed out that it had a longstanding presence in Saudi Arabia and was delighted to have been invited to participate in Neom, a world class construction project. 
 
"Following the signing of the framework agreement we are very well positioned to participate in the future geotechnical work, with the potential to generate contract revenues in the hundreds of million pounds in future years," said a company spokesman.
 
The announcement comes as the top German geotechnical contractor gears up to announce the first half results. As previously indicated, Keller expects 2022 to be a year of growth, with full year performance to have the customary second half weighting, and to reflect its usual increase in trading momentum as the year progresses. 
 
Keller Group CEO Michael Speakman said: "Our delivery in line with our first half expectations and the group’s record and growing £1.5 billion order book provides confidence for our performance in the second half and delivering on our expectations for the full year."
 
"Our involvement in the prestigious Neom project, together with a number of recent infrastructure and LNG contract wins, evidences the diversity and inherent resilience of the Group across the macroeconomic cycle," he stated. 
 
"The underlying strength of the group’s performance provides confidence in our longer-term prospects and is reflected in the board’s decision to recommence the progressive dividend policy with a 5% increase in the interim dividend for the first half of 2022," he added.-TradeArabia News Service