SAUDI Qudurat Holding for Development and the Spanish Como company recently entered into a joint venture agreement to form a new company called Como Arabia.

 It will specialis in supplying logistics and operational services for mega projects such as, but not limited to, railway, water, energy and generation, mining and offshore platform projects even in remote areas in addition to other infrastructure projects in the GCC countries, the company said.

Qudurat Holding owns 51 per cent of the new company while Spanish Como has 49 per cent of the shareholding, a joint statement said. Headquartered in Riyadh, Como Arabia targets projects in the GCC countries valued at SR500 million ($133.3 million) in the first three years of its operation.

The agreement was signed by Qudurat Holding CEO engineer Ibrahim Al Asseri and Como’s CEO Alejandro Alvarez on the sidelines of the Airline Catering Exhibition held in Hamburg, Germany.

The joint statement also disclosed that the new company has won the logistics and operation of the Al Haramain Rail project in Makkah and Madinah – the first public means of transport with modern technology in Saudi Arabia. The SR6 billion ($1.5 billion) project awarded in 2009 is expected to partly go into operation by the start of next year.

Moreover, Como Arabia aims to clinch the logistics and operation contract for the metro and public transport projects which the kingdom had lately approved, in addition to opportunities available in the industrial complexes particularly in Waad Al Shamal City where strategic projects were launched earlier this year.

Como Arabia also anticipates participation in ambitious projects in the GCC countries especially in the UAE and Qatar as part of their preparations to host Expo 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, respectively.

Al Asseri noted that Qudurat Holding is on the verge of a quantum leap in the type and size of its projects, especially in light of alliances with international companies that possesses technical experience and financial capacity to achieve the aspirations of the company’s shareholders.

“We’re really delighted to partner with Como Spanish Company for the establishment of Como Arabia. In its first phase, the new company will focus mainly on the GCC countries given the market enormity in the private sector and development of infrastructure projects and also focus on fulfilling local requirements. The company will later expand its scope of activities to cover the Middle East and North Africa countries,” Al Asseri added.

Como CEO Alejandro Alvarez expressed his happiness and gratitude to Qudurat Holding for selecting Como to participate in and contribute to the promising market in the Arab Gulf region. He confirmed that Como had previously implemented major contracts in Europe, Asia and South America and that it currently seeks to geographically expand in order to start establishing successes in the Middle East and North Africa under the umbrella of Como Arabia and with the effective participation of Qudurat Holding.