Turkish giant Yüksel Insaat is busy with several major projects in Saudi Arabia, as it expands across the Gulf in the wake of a trillion-dollar construction boom that’s sweeping the region.

One of Turkey’s leading contractors, Yüksel Insaat was established in 1963 in Ankara and has played an active role in the development of Turkey’s infrastructure through numerous contracts covering transportation, energy, the environment and industry.
Yüksel Insaat spread its wings overseas in 1983 and has over the years built power plants, desalination plants, water storage terminals, hotels, factories, roads, and US embassies, across Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Romania, and Georgia, among other countries.
In 1997, Yüksel Insaat and its subsidiaries – which provide services in tourism, finance, information technology, manufacturing and investment – were organised under the umbrella of Yüksel Holding.
Today, Yüksel Insaat is a major international force and also a corporate with a conscience, says a spokesman for the company.
“Last year Engineering News Record (ENR) rated Yüksel 88th among the 225 largest international construction companies in the world, while the Turkish financial magazine Capital listed us among Turkey’s top 100 companies and third in its sector,” he says. 
“The group,” he continues, “is also a socially responsible corporate and is currently funding the excavation of the 3,240-year-old Alaca Höyük Hittite Dam, Anatolia’s oldest dam, which was used by the Hittites. The project aims to restore the dam as a source of irrigation and potable water for the surrounding areas.”
Yüksel Insaat launched operations in Saudi Arabia in 1983, and after signing its first contracts established a joint venture under the name of Yüksel Insaat Saudia.
“Since 1983, Yüksel Insaat Saudia has successfully completed projects worth more than SR2 billion ($533 million) involving pipelines, power and desalination plants, giant water tanks and related electro-mechanical works, housing compounds and hospitals,” the spokesman says.
Currently, Yüksel is executing projects for the Ministry of Water and Electricity, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Saline Water Conversion Cooperation (SWCC).
These include the Baysh Dam in Jizan, the Murwani Dam in Makkah, and the Damad Dam in Jizan, and three contracts at the King Faisal University in Dammam.
Elaborating on the King Faisal University projects, the spokesman says: “Infrastructure work on university’s permanent campus in Dammam is nearly complete, while we have recently been awarded contracts for infrastructure work on the hospital area in Al Khobar and as well as the Al Hasa Campus worth a total of SR750 million.
Meanwhile, Yüksel has emerged as the lowest bidder on one of the most prestigious projects in the kingdom, the Eastern Province Water Transmission System (Phase 2), and technical and financial evaluations of the bid are under way.
The Eastern Province Water Transmission System involves the transportation of potable water produced at the new desalination plant in Marafiq, located within the industrial city of Jubail on the north-east coast of Saudi Arabia, to the cities in the Eastern Province via Safwa, Qatif, Sayhat and Dammam as well as upgrading the blending stations at Ras Tanurah, Al Jubail, Dhahran and Al Khobar.
The project also includes upgrading the capacity of the existing Hofuf Water Transmission System – which supplies water to Abqaiq and Hofuf from the Al Khobar desalination plant – from the current 20 millions gallons a day (mgd) to 40 mgd.
The new system is being designed to have a capacity of 500,000 cu m a day. The pipeline will be 133.77 km long and consist of pipes in diameters of 76, 68, 64, 60, 36 and 24 inches. A main pumping station (PS1) will be located at the origin of the pipeline near the desalination plant. Twelve steel tanks with a total capacity of 730,000 cu m will be constructed at PS1 and various blending stations, along with several support and ancillary buildings and facilities.
Having firmly established its presence in Saudi Arabia over a quarter of a century, Yüksel is now branching out into the other GCC nations as well.
“The last six to seven years have witnessed a period of astounding growth in the region, especially in Dubai, while Doha and Abu Dhabi are now emerging as new construction hotspots,” the spokesman says.
In 2005 Yüksel opened offices in Dubai and Qatar and was quick to win several projects.
Its projects in Qatar include building the approach bridges to the New Doha International Airport (NDIA), and work on North-South extensions of Ras Abu Abboud Road project which involves construction of a dual four-to-five-lane free flow carriageway of approximately 4 km, the construction of a two-lane directional link tunnel of approximately 740 m with aproaches, the reconstruction of the east-west bridge at the RAAR interchange, and construction of an underpass at the Naval Base junction.                         
Meanwhile in Dubai, Yüksel was the successful bidder on a $65 million motorway project and a $80 million highway intersection.
Looking ahead Yüksel is optimistic as the region continues to invest in and develop its infrastructure. “Over $1,000 billion has been announced for infrastructure and real estate projects across the GCC, and with more than half of these projects under way, this has translated into one of the largest construction booms in the world,” the spokesman concludes.