Tatweer Building Co. awards contract to build 60 schools in Makkah, Jeddah

Tatweer Buildings Co. (TBC), wholly-owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), said that the consortium of Ajyad Knowledge for Education and Training and Al Bawani Co. Ltd. won the best financial offer at SAR 86 million (average annual equivalent price), for Wave 1 Schools to be built under public-private partnership (PPP) program.

The preferred bidder for Wave 1 Schools will be responsible for 60 public schools in Jeddah and Makkah, to be constructed on a Build, Maintain and Transfer (BMT) model, TBC said in a statement.

The construction period of the project will be three years, followed by 20 years for maintenance by the private sector. The firm expects to sign the project contract in the next few weeks and start work by the end of 2020.

The construction of the first phase in Jeddah is expected to be completed in two years, while the second phase in Makkah is planned for completion within three years from the date of signing of the contract, the statement said.

Meanwhile, TBC aims to announce the results of the request-for-qualification (RFQ) for Wave 2 of the PPP program to finance, design, build and facility manage 60 schools in Madinah. The project will be launched in the next few weeks.

According to the data available with Argaam, the Cabinet approved, in December 2018, the implementation of the construction, maintenance and transfer model to strengthen the partnership with the private sector to provide educational buildings.

The cabinet also approved the budget for implementing the model at an amount not exceeding SAR 400 million annually and for a period not more than 28 years, in order to launch at least 120 schools in key regions of the Kingdom.

The schools that will be launched through this program are government school projects, in which the Ministry of Education will provide educational services for free, while the role of the private sector will be limited to financing, construction and facilities management.

Wave 1 was selected to be in Makkah and Jeddah due to the increasing need for educational facilities in the two cities, and in an effort by the Ministry of Education to replace rented schools with high-quality schools in various regions of the Kingdom.