Saudi Water Contract Awards Slow Sharply in 2026

Saudi Arabia's water sector saw a marked slowdown in new project contract awards during 2026, with the total reaching about USD 3.94 billion as of early September — well below the levels recorded in recent years. The figure compares with roughly USD 10.7 billion in 2025, USD 13 billion in 2024, and USD 15.3 billion in 2023.

The slowdown was clearest at the start of the year. Water-sector awards in the first quarter of 2026 dropped to about USD 729 million, down from around USD 5.1 billion in the same quarter of 2025 — a fall of roughly 85% year-on-year. The Kingdom's total project awards across all sectors in Q1 2026 stood at about USD 11 billion, the second-lowest quarterly level in more than five years, with water cited as a main driver of the decline.

By the first half of 2026, water infrastructure awards totaled around USD 3.14 billion, significantly below the roughly USD 7.58 billion awarded in the same period a year earlier. In May 2026, overall awarded projects reached about SAR 30 billion, of which the water and energy segment accounted for around SAR 390 million.

Activity picked up later in the year with the Madinah water project. In early September, two major contractors were reported to have secured water transmission contracts worth about USD 586.6 million each, within a total project value of roughly USD 3.9 billion. The scheme is designed to transmit around 550,000 cubic metres of water

Several planned water projects remain in procurement, with some awaiting financial close or contract award, and multiple tender deadlines have been extended — factors that have weighed on awarded contract values this year. For residents, continued investment in transmission and desalination signals a longer-term focus on securing reliable water supply as demand grows across the Kingdom.

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