IIn his role as project management consultant for the 2030 World Expo, the in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bechtel is now overseeing the construction of key infrastructure for the six-month event, which is expected to take place every five years. It is expected to attract around 40 million visitors. Reuters reported that the country has committed $7.8 billion to develop the event, which will also show progress on its ambitious Vision 2030 economic development plan. Bechtel has been operating in Saudi Arabia for more than eight decades, says Darren Mort, president of its infrastructure business. Jacob Mumm, the company's general manager of public infrastructure, shares with ENR details of his experiences on hundreds of projects in a conversation that has been edited for length and clarity.
ENR: What do you think were the projects that transformed Bechtel's relationship with Saudi Arabia into a true partnership?
Mama: We have been operating in Saudi Arabia for over 80 years and a large part of our company's history is linked to the development of the Kingdom. From one of the first oil refineries in Ras Tanura in 1943 to some of the first airports, power stations and telecommunications facilities, the Jubail project that we started in the 1970s—We have completed over 300 projects.
We work as contractors on some of them, for example on the Riyadh Metro Rail Project. At others we work as project managers or construction managers. The thing we are most proud of is the Riyadh Metro. We work at Neom as project management consultants. As a terminal delivery partner, we are present at King Salman International Airport. So this has really been a decades-long journey, and I think the trust probably comes from a lot of the work that we've done. I would say World Expo, if you look at it as a sector, it is a kind of event, but it is also anchored in urban development. And so we thought we had that experience at Neom, and we have that experience at the Expo. And we really understand Riyadh and getting around locally.
Regarding Bechtel's crown jewels, what lessons from Bechtel's subway project will the company bring to managing the Expo's infrastructure development?
I was a project manager for the Riyadh metro, where we had over 100 construction sites, 38 stations, two lines, just a great project. We carried out this fixed price project (engineering, procurement and construction) together with Siemens and two regional contractors, Almabani and Consolidated Contractors Company. In this process we really got to know everyone involved in Riyadh, the utilities, the energy suppliers, and I think we built trust with a lot of the city authorities. I think this really prepared us for working at the fair as it is a greenfield location. There's nothing there. And what we do is we are on site and we do all the infrastructure work there. So it's a six kilometer long site in a large part of Riyadh, in the northern part of Riyadh, just southwest of the airport. We basically take care of all the utilities and all the roads where we work as project managers for the Expo Development Company, a public investment fund company.
Then there is a second part, which is about legacy. So there is a longer-term plan, which is generally the approach to trade shows, and a longer-term benefit to the community.
As Bechtel's projects in the Kingdom have become more complex, how do you think local contractors have also evolved by working on projects such as the Riyadh metro?
I've really been able to see these companies grow and evolve over time, and that's a legacy. Security is a good example. When you go to residential or commercial construction sites, PPE and construction site surveillance standards apply [were not] what you would expect and not really to the same standard as in the US. I think because a lot of those workers and contractors were involved in the subway—and other great companies are also involved, [such as] Webuild, FCC—We had really high safety standards. And that kind of rising tide lifted all boats in Riyadh.
So we know many of the contractors who will be working on the show. Not everything is decided yet, but we know many of these people. We know the owners of these companies. We know the foreman. We know the superiors. We know their families and have lived and grown up there with them for over a decade.
From a cultural perspective, having actually lived in Saudi Arabia for many years, what makes the difference is whether there are differences in the Kingdom or the States when it comes to getting support for projects like the Riyadh metro and the World Expo.
It's a nuance. You, of course, complete the design, and you must go through the design phases before starting construction and the drawings must be approved. There is a civil protection authority that confirms that everything has been taken care of. There is a high quality program and professional engineering—i.e. all the things we are used to. But I think that once there is a decision to implement the project, the political support for projects is 100%. There is a royal decree, the project is financed, the land is allocated and the project follows. Of course, in the rest of the world there are annual budgets and funding cycles and all these things. But it seems like commitment to projects can sometimes be greater. When it happens, it's more consistent.
With the Expo as a mega-project, are you managing the risks of limited resources in the region in competition with other projects?
There is definitely competition for resources. I think Saudi Arabia is definitely one of the busiest and most active construction markets in the world. So how do you deal with this since capacity in the contractual community is limited? I think the answer is that you really need to spend a lot of time engaging the supply chain, engaging the contracting community early on to test where there is capacity and to test when to increase capacity, perhaps bringing other regional contractors from other countries into the Gulf Cooperation Council or adopting Tier 2 contracts, contractors and lower tier contractors and a responsible one Finds a way to bring them up to speed through training, support and mentoring. That is a different matter and then it is crucial to ensure that the contract structures provide a good balance of risk and reward. There may be so much work going on that a contract structure or a fixed price contract structure may not be appropriate given the particular circumstances. I think you just have to see where the capacity is, and that can only be done by talking to the contracting community.
What kind of discussions are you having with the treaty community about Expo preparations and the topic of “Foresight for Tomorrow”?
The Expo is really a cool thing. It's Expo 2030. There's Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, all in the run-up to the 100th anniversary, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern Saudi state. It's all very carefully choreographed. Vision 2030 is really about preparing the country, the economy, the people, the society for the future and for a post-carbon economy. Innovation is really the focus. And how can we make the Expo different and better than other projects before? That is the idea of the project.