PROJECTS: Interview: ‘Covid-hit Saudi construction sector is recovering’ – SCA Chairman

PROJECTS: Interview: ‘Covid-hit Saudi construction sector is recovering’ – SCA Chairman

Saudi Arabia's construction sector, the largest in the Arab region, is set to continue improving in 2021 after being severely hit by the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the chief of the Kingdom's top contractor association said. Saudi contracting sector, which is 70-75 percent reliant on public project , is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of post-Covid-19 recovery in the Kingdom's economy as well as a project boom and privatisation programme within the 'Vision 2030' economic diversification strategy spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said Khalid Al-Saif, Chairman of the Saudi Contractors' Authority (SCA), the oil giant's main contracting body told Zawya. SCA has conducted a study on the impact of COVID-19 on the country's construction sector and found that it took a direct hit like its counterparts in most other countries as a result of a general economic slump caused by the pandemic, he said in the email interview. "The contracting sector in Saudi Arabia is dependent on government and semi-government spending and public projects and this means it is affected by the repercussions of the pandemic on the Saudi economy, which is part of the global economy“¦in our study, we have concluded that there was